A new method of police verification to minimise the time taken for disposing passport applications will be introduced in Thanjavur district from December 1 on a pilot basis, said K. Balamurugan, Passport Officer, Tiruchi, on Thursday.
Discussing the new method with police officials to sensitise them to the changes introduced at the Passport Seva Kendra in Thanjavur, Mr. Balamurugan said passport applications with details for police verification used to be sent to the Superintendent of Police and he would send them to the respective police stations. Under the new method, applications would be sent directly to the police stations concerned and a consolidated list to the office of the Superintendent of Police.
“This would minimise the time taken for police verification and aid in speedy issuance of passports,” Mr. Balamurugan said.
G. Dharmarajan, Superintendent of police, Thanjavur district, advised station house officers to go to the houses of the applicants and personally verify the details instead of asking them to come to the police stations. He said that efforts were being made to complete the police verification early.
“At present, it takes one month for completing verification of 2,000 applications, but the new method would significantly reduce this time,” he said. In Thanjavur district, 459 applications were currently pending for police verification, Mr. Dharmarajan said.
He advised the station house officers to identify four or five applicants for visit each day at the time of taking roll call.
B. Elambaruthi, Additional Superintendent of Police, Thanjavur, and Vijayalakshmi, head, Thanjavur Passport Kendra, took part.