After several months of lockdown-induced lull, the Kozhikode Regional Passport Office, which issues more passports than the two other regional passport offices in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, has resumed near-normal functioning.
However, appointments at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in various districts in Malabar as well as the Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) in Kasaragod district have been restricted to 75% of the pre-COVID-19 levels to strictly comply with the mandatory protocols.
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A source in the Ministry of External Affairs said the travel restrictions imposed by various countries on account of the pandemic saw an almost 50% drop in the number of applications. There was huge dip in passport applications in April, May, June and July last year. During this period, the number of passports issued were below 10,000 a month.
From September onwards, the official said, the number of applications received and passports issued rose in the range between 25,000 and 35,000 a month. In January this year, about 40,000 passports were issued. The trend continued for the next two months before falling again in the months of April, May and June.
The drop in the number of applicants was attributed to the lockdown in the State. Now, with restrictions easing and the Gulf sector opening up, passport and its related services would receive a better response. This would also mean a longer waiting period, the sources said.
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Normally, the Kozhikode Regional Passport office receives and clears over five lakh applications a calendar year. The figure for 2019 was 5,34,406. But in 2020, it went down to 2,96,534, and this year up to August 31, the office processed 2,16,143 applications. In the past several years, Kerala stood second, after Maharashtra, in the list of States issuing most number of passports in the country.
The official said that the lockdown had also cast a shadow over two proposals for opening two POPSKs, one each either in Kalpetta or Mananthavady in Wayanad district, and in Tirur in Malappuram district. Wayanad is the only district in north Kerala which lacks a passport-service facility.
The Regional Passport Office, Kozhikode, caters for five districts — Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod, Wayanad, Malappuram and Mahe (Union Territory). PSKs are functioning at Kannur, Payyannur, Kozhikode, Vadakara and Malappuram. The first POPSK under the regional office was opened at the Kasaragod head post office four years ago.
At the same time, the closure of the Malappuram Regional Passport Office and its merger with the Kozhikode office in 2017 did not affect the residents of Malappuram district, the sources said.