The Regional Passport Office (RPO), Visakhapatnam, has earned the distinction of being among the top three RPOs in the country, which have achieved their targets.
The Ministry of External Affairs under its ‘Mission One Crore Passports’ had set a target of issuing 1,86,079 passports for Vizag RPO during the calendar year 2014. Notwithstanding cyclone Hudhud disrupting the services of the RPO for a week, the target was exceeded and it goes to the credit of the RPO officials here that the Ministry has taken RPO Vizag’s achievement as a case study for other passport offices across the country.
The RPO has issued 1,93,200 passports till December 31, 2014. It represents an increase of 33 per cent over last year when 1,45,241 passports were issued and the revenue generated has increased to Rs.31 crore from 25.98 crore during the same period last year, according to Passport Officer NLP Choudary.
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Mr. Choudary said the Ministry of External Affairs had sanctioned another Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) for Visakhapatnam. It would come up at the RPO building at Marripalem VUDA Layout in the city. The PSK would process 400 passport applications a day. The RPO, Vizag, will soon sign a lease deed with the Bhimavaram Municipality for setting up a Passport Seva Laghu Kendra (PSLK) at Bhimavaram in West Godavari district.