Efforts will be made to have a permanent Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Mysuru to cater to the huge demand in the region which is an emerging destination for industries besides being an educational centre.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Passport Seva Camp in the city on Saturday, Mysuru MP Mr. Pratap Simha made a strong case for such a facility catering to the districts of Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Hassan besides Kodagu.
He promised to take up the issue with the Minister for External Affairs Ms. Sushma Swaraj and claimed that his request for a permanent facility resulted in the Passport Seva Camp as an interim measure. “But what Mysuru needs is a full-fledged and a permanent Passport Seva Kendra”, said the MP pointing out that Karnataka had only four such facilities – two at Bengaluru and one each at Hubbali and Mangaluru - compared to 13 PSK in Kerala.
The Regional Passport Officer Mr. P.S. Karthikeyan said that the region had lot of potential and aspirations and the response to the two-day camp was evident of it. He said the demand of the stakeholders in the region and the potential would be conveyed to the MEA. “Though the passport seva camp does not meet the aspirations of the local people, given the response and the potential it is a step forward in establishing a permanent PSK”, said Mr. Karthikeyan.
He said the RPO Bengaluru was ranked number 1 in terms of productivity and efficiency and efforts were on to reduce the average time required to process passport application forms and issue the same, from 30 days to 20 days.
MLC Mr. G. Madhusudhan called for simplification of procedure to issue passports under Tatkal scheme while setting a time-limit of 3 days for completing the police verification for normal passport applications. Till a PSK was established in Mysuru, such camps should be held frequently to cater to the public demand, he added.
The passport seva camp is being held at the office of the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat and will handle 300 applicants whose appointments were confirmed. However, Tatkal applications are not being received at the Passport Seva Camp.
