The first passport in the new State of Telangana was issued on Monday. The applicant had, however, mentioned Andhra Pradesh as his home State in the application form. Officials said the software automatically changed the name of Andhra Pradesh to Telangana when the passport was being issued and printed in the new State.
Most passports that had Telangana printed in the space assigned for ‘residential address’ – on the second last page of the document – were those that were applied under the ‘Tatkal’ scheme.
“It is difficult to find out the first person to have taken the passport under the Telangana State,” an official said.
With Hyderabad being the joint capital for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the next 10 years, the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here would continue to issue passports for both States as per instructions of the Central Government, an official said.
However, Vishakapatnam in the residuary Andhra Pradesh too has a passport office serving the needs of the five north coastal districts – West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam. It was opened in January 1997 by bifurcating the RPO in Hyderabad.
“Vishakapatnam may be asked to cater to the needs of entire Andhra Pradesh in future,” an official said.
Though the RPO Hyderabad issues passports for other districts in Telangana, as well as the Rayalaseema area, the applicants can submit their applications in Passport Seva Kendras in various parts of the two new States.
