MADURAI
S. Maniswara Raja, Regional Passport Officer, has been presented with Passport Seva Puraskar award for meritorious service. The award was presented to him by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi recently.
According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, the RPO had been instrumental in introducing a number of facilities through which grievances of applicants were redressed. The time taken for issue of fresh passports too had shrunk drastically.
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The Passport Seva Kendra (PSK), which was established here in June 2011, had issued 16 lakh passports. So far this year, 1.52 lakh passports had been issued, and the number was expected to grow to three lakh by the year end.
Earlier at any point of time about 23,000 applications would be pending for police verification in Madurai region, but now the number had come down to 980. The Passport Office here had been coordinating well with police department, which helped in achieving result. With the launch of a police app soon, the applicants could get fresh passports within a week’s time.
The public could seek online appointment with officials by remitting ₹100 with e-seva centres and avoid approaching touts.
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When contacted, Mr. Maniswara Raja said it was the team work which had led the region to a top position at the national level.