As a one-time relief to passport applicants, the regional passport office will give appointments for the next 17 working days in one shot through passportindia.gov.in, starting 6.30 p.m. on Thursday. Appointments till June 13 will be available on Thursday. As a result, 28,220 appointments will be available online.
The four Passport Seva Kendras in the State can handle 1,660 appointments a day. In the confusing system that is followed presently, 75 per cent, or 1,245 of these 1,660 appointments, are available for booking three days before the date of appointment. The remaining 25 per cent, or 415 appointments, can be booked two days before the date of appointment.
For example, 75 per cent of appointment for Thursday will be available on Monday. The remaining 25 per cent of appointments for Friday will be open for booking only on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, acting Passport Officer L. Madan Kumar said there were several complaints against the present system as the appointments were being lapped up minutes after they were made available online.
“Simply put, we are going to make appointments for the next 17 working days available tomorrow [Thursday] evening at 6.30 p.m.. As a result there will be more appointments available for booking at a time than before,” said Mr. Kumar.
Urgent cases
Passport applicants, who can prove urgency, can now approach the Regional Passport Office in Koramangala from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on all working days. They will be issued out of turn walk-in appointments to submit their applications on a priority basis if they can prove that they are pressed for time, Mr. Kumar said.
He said tatkal applicants could directly approach the Passport Seva Kendras with Application Reference Numbers between 10.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on any working day.
The Regional Passport Office will also conduct a Passport Mela on June 8 for which appointments would be open for booking on June 1, he said. A passport adalat will be held on May 29 to address grievances that are no more than six months old, Mr. Kumar said.