In a much-awaited development, Belagavi has been listed among five locations in the State where the Ministry of External Affairs has decided to open Post Office Passport Seva Kendras. The other locations are Bengaluru, Davangere, Hassan and Kalaburagi.
Prompted by the successful operationalisation of the two pilot projects, which was opened in Mysuru by the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers and Parliament Affairs H.N. Ananth Kumar on January 25 and another in Dahod of Gujarat the same day, the Union government has decided to scale up the programme by opening 56 kendras, including five in the State, as per an announcement made by the Ministry recently.
The Ministry and the Department of Posts have come together to utilise head post offices in various States for setting up such kendras for delivering passport-related services on a larger scale to the citizens.
The Ministry has said that both the kendras in Mysuru and Dahod were operating successfully and were releasing about 100 appointments every day.
Residents of Belagavi and professional bodies such as Belagavi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Belagavi District Small Scale Industries Associations and various other social organisations had been demanding Passport Seva Kendra in the city since the passport office was shut down a few couple of years ago.
The residents are frequenting Hubballi for their passport-related services since then.
