Passport Seva Project will be launched May 28 in Bangalore

From May 21, the old regional passport office has been closed down and applicants told to apply at the swanky Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in Bangalore. Nearly an year behind schedule, the pilot phase of the much-delayed Passport Seva Project will be launched May 28 in Bangalore.


'Right now, people may stand in queues for hours. But, at the PSK, we think that a person may finish their work within 45 minutes,' said MEA Joint Secretary (consular, passport and visa) A. Manickam. There had been a number of glitches detected in the manufacture of the software, which has now been relatively smoothened out. The Rs.1,000 crore project was contracted to Tata Consultancy Services in October 2008, to help streamline the passport issuance process.

After the pilot project ends, the rest of the PSKs will be rolled out across the country. The time taken to issue passports will be less than the current system, but there is still expected to be significant delay due to the police verification.'There are 77 passport seva Kendras to be set up. We are looking at a target of end of financial year. There will be some saving of time, as now the applications for verifications will be sent electronically. We are setting up two computers at each district headquarters, Manickam said. The 'brain' of these 77 passport centres is the Network Operations Centre set up in south Delhi.

In Karnataka, four PSK will be opened - two in Bangalore and one each in Hubli and Mangalore. From May 21, the old regional passport office has been closed down. The vision of the Passport Seva Project was to improve the facilities for the public at the centres. The time taken to issue passports will be less than the current system and applicants applying for passport may finish their work within 45 minutes.