HYDERABAD
The Regional Passport Office (RPO) Hyderabad has introduced a new facility “On hold appointment” for people who fail to bring the required documents to the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). They can now schedule their next visit at their convenience.
“This is a new facility being introduced as several people face this problem at PSKs after scheduling an appointment. They are asked to come back with the missing documents by the officers. But now they can schedule their appointment for the next visit there and then itself,” the RPO Hyderabad, Ashwini Sattaru told a press conference here on Tuesday.
Visit the RPO personally
She said the RPO will also allow people to directly visit the RPO anytime between 9.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. from Monday to Friday to get their grievances redressed. Three enquiry counters with dedicated offers of the rank of Superintendent will listen to applicants’ grievances and these include reasons for issuance of passport, pending documents submission or re-police verification.
Policy and legal officers will also be available to address complicated cases like divorced parents, date of birth issues and adoption issues among others. If the applicants are not satisfied they can also request an audience with the Deputy Passport Officer or Regional Passport Officer.
Ms. Ashwini said grievances can also be registered at the Central Government’s portal ‘www.pg.portal.gov.in’ and track the status online. All the state related complaints are sent to RPO Hyderabad on daily basis and solved. Applicants from A.P. and Telangana can write to ‘po.hyderabad@passportindia.gov.in’ directly.
The RPO said students are considered as a special category and those migrating to Hyderabad from their villages or towns can get their passports based on the submission of their college bonafide certificate. “We will enquire in the college and also at their permanent residence in their villages and they don’t need to submit any residence proof from the city,” she said. In case of minor children it is not mandatory for the parents to have passport before applying the same for their minor children. In such cases passport will be issued after police verification.
She said Hyderabad RPO has been creating an applicant-friendly approach and this has led to clearance of 84,806 passports in August, which is a national record. In the last three months itself 1,99,685 passports have been issued while in the first three quarters of this year 4,68,184 passports were issued.
2 croreth application at Hyderabad
The RPO Hyderabad processed the 2 croreth passport application of the country since the new Passport Seva Kendra system has come into force. The applicant is a two-month old baby, Baby Anaika Dia, whose application was processed and issued within two hours. Her parents Saleem Pasha Mohammed and Yasmin Kalluri applied at the Tolichowki PSK at 10.30 a.m., it was printed at 12.18 p.m. and dispatched at 2.28 p.m. on the same day. Ms. Ashwini handed over the passport to the baby at the press conference.
EOM
