Harassment at Passport office
Sir,
This refers to the working
of passport office at Jammu which was opened for the
welfare of the Public, particularly of the Jammu region
so as to enable them to have early access, thereby,
linking them to the whole world at large. While the
passport office at Srinagar was already there long
before, the Jammu office came into being on the
persistant demands made by the people of Jammu region.
But, the irony is : the office which was to lessen the
inconvenience caused to the people of this region, has
become a constant cause of humiliation and corruption.
There is rampant corruption and bribery going on in the
office openly particularly amongst the lower staff. The
following bears testimony to the above fact:-
The reception office
counter at the passport office has no availability of
passport forms with them which are provided free of cost
but the same could be had from the various Travel agents
and agencies located in vicinity against a cash payment
of Rs 10/- (rupees ten only). This clearly speaks of the
nexus the office people are having with these agencies.
Another glaring feature of
mismanagement and open corruption is the way in which the
forms are scrutinised and accepted by the office staff.
No proper queue-system is there.
No higher officials are
available when public try to reveal their genuine
grievances. The staff is neither cordial nor gives proper
guidance to the public.
All this has made the
passport office as a source of constant harassment to the
innocent people. I hope MoS Civil Aviation who himself
belongs from Jammu region will look into the matter and
would bring guilty to the books thereby providing much
awaited relief to the people of Jammu region.
Yours etc...
Rajeshwar Basotra
Jammu.
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