The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has ordered the closure of the Malappuram Regional Passport Office (RPO) and its merger with the Kozhikode RPO.
The Malappuram office will function till November 17, and the merger will take place on November 20. Under the new arrangement, five northern districts will come under the jurisdiction of the Kozhikode office, and the State will remain with the three passport offices including Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram as before.
Regional Passport Officer K.P. Madhusoodanan said the merger would not impact the process of issuing passports. “Only the administrative work is being shifted to Kozhikode. Besides, it will be advantageous to residents living near the borders of Malappuram and Kozhikode districts such as Parappanangadi, Tanur, and Vazhakkad, as they can utilise the facility at the Passport Seva Kendra at West Hill in Kozhikode,” he said.
'In line with MEA policy'
The decision to close down the Malappuram RPO and retain only a Passport Seva Kendra under the Kozhikode office is in line with the MEA policy of centralising passport offices across the country. The RPO in Thane in Maharashtra was merged with the Mumbai RPO in August, sources said.
They added that the MEA had plans to launch two Post Office Passport Seva Kendras at Manjeri and Tirur. The Malappuram RPO was opened in August 2006. At the outset, it catered for Malappuram and Palakkad districts. But Palakkad district was attached to the Kochi office in 2015. Incidentally, the Malappuram office also became the only RPO in the State catering for just one district that has a sizeable emigrant population. The office annually issues passports to up to 2.15 lakh persons.
For the record, there was a move to shut down the Malappuram RPO in early 2014-15. However, the MEA dropped the plan on the intervention of former Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed. The Malappuram RPO, which functions from a rented building, pays a monthly rent of ₹1.25 lakh.
Now, the big question is whether the Kozhikode office, which faces acute staff shortage, can cater for a big district like Malappuram. But then, the Mumbai RPO receives 4.5 lakh applications every year.
