Submission of Aadhar, PAN to speed up passport issuance

Chennai, Feb 3: Submission of Aadhar card, PAN and voter identity card will speed up the process of issuance of passport to an applicant, a senior passport official said on Wednesday.

"The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has brought in a new scheme under which a passport applicant will get a passport within three days if he/she submits Aadhar card, permanent account number (PAN) and voter identity card details in addition to other documents," regional passport officer K. Balamurugan told reporters here.

He said police verification will be done after the passport is issued and there is no additional fee levied under this scheme.

The senior officer also said that the Centre was not thinking of making the Aadhar card compulsory for the issuance of passports.

The Centre will soon write to the Tamil Nadu government to use mobile application for faster police verification of passport applicants, he added.

Balamurugan said the MEA data base will be linked to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems of Tamil Nadu to facilitate police verification of passport applicants.

The MEA's data system is already linked to that of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

As for linking MEA and UIDAI data base for issuance of Aadhar cards to passport applicants, the officer said the idea seemed feasible but it was not under consideration at present.

According to him, the Hyderabad police were now using 'mPassport Police App' for verification of passport applicants.

"All data needed for police verification will be available on smart phones or tablets with policemen. All they have to do is press the necessary keys. The system is environment-friendly as there is no need to take printouts and is also faster," Balamurugan said.

He said a passport applicant can now choose any appointment date from earliest available five dates for submission of his/her application at the Passport Seva Kendras.

IANS