The modalities of police verification will now be simpler and speedier for a passport applicant with the launch of a mobile app.
Puducherry has become the second Union Territory after Daman and Diu to launch the mobile app (mpassport police application) under a scheme of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Thursday launched the the passport swift service (mpassport police application) for expeditious submission of police verification report.
The launch of the app comes after the commissioning of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System in the last couple of years.
According to P.K. Ashok Babu, Regional Passport Officer, police verification had been an integral part of the passport issuance process, and, while the modalities of the verification had undergone various changes over the years, the core principle remained unchanged — ascertaining the applicant’s identity, citizenship and absence of criminal antecedents.
The app would facilitate speedy submission of police verification report by enabling field-level verification officers to capture and upload the report on to the system digitally.
“With the launch of this app, the need to download and print the physical personal particulars form and questionnaire would no longer be required resulting in paperless end-to-end digital flow of the police verification process,” he said.
Process time reduced
In Puducherry, the launch of the citizen-friendly initiative is expected to reduce the process time by seven to ten days. In the past, field officers used to go to the address in the form and verify the identity and nationality of the applicant, visit the local police station to check for criminal records and them submit the report to the Inspector of Police, who is the nodal officer of the Foreigner’s Registration Office, Puducherry.
The FRO would cross-verify the report and submit it online to the Regional Passport Office, Chennai, and despatch a hard copy.
The time taken for police verification process would be greatly reduced. For the scheme, 20 tablets have been provided for Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions.
Chief Secretary Manoj Parida, Director-General of Police S.K. Gautam and Senior Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Apoorva Gupta participated in the launch.
