The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : “Do not fall prey to touts and agents”

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Wednesday, Dec 03, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

“Do not fall prey to touts and agents”

Special Correspondent

Make use of facilitation centre: Passport Officer

MADURAI: Passport Officer Jose K. Mathew has appealed to all applicants visiting the Passport Office here not to fall prey to touts and agents for filling up application forms.

To offer assistance to applicants, an ex-servicemen assistance counter has been set up inside the Passport Office premises.

According to a press release issued here on Monday, the facilitation counter would help the applicants in filling up forms and documents to be attached.

It had come to the notice of officials that a number of poor and illiterate persons were misguided, cheated and even robbed of large sums of money by touts who promised to get passports swiftly.

The touts, it had come to light, who were operating in front of the passport office, were charging exorbitant sums for filling up application forms.

Some applicants had been tutored to suppress information about them and also of details of previous passports held by them.

Mr. Jose warned that suppression of information could lead to delay in issue of passports, imposing penalties and other action under the Passport Act.

Tales of woe

Many applicants said that they were put to untold hardship owing to the attitude of some staffers at the Passport Office.

A 55-year-old woman from Tirunelveli, who had recently undergone knee replacement surgery, said that two days ago when she came to file her application, she was issued a token.

After sitting at the office for three hours, she was asked to leave the hall at 1.p.m. and come again after 2 p.m.

The woes were similar for many others, who had come from places as far as Kanyakumari and Kodaikanal.

A senior executive of a travel agency in Madurai said that though the online applicants were given a specific timing to appear with relevant documents, they had to wait for long hours.

Sometimes they were even asked to come the following day.

A senior citizen from Dindigul who had come here to file an application under tatkal along with his daughter-in-law said that they left their place as early as 5 a.m. with a three-month-old child and there was no decent restaurant in the nearby area.

The Passport Office could provide an opportunity to women self-help groups to open a cafeteria, another visitor said.

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