Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 18: Passport Seva Project, the mission mode program of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has completed one year of operations in Jammu. With the establishment of Passport Seva Kendra in the city, the MEA has taken assertive steps to deliver passport services to citizens of Jammu and adjoining areas in a timely, transparent, more accessible and reliable manner.
Since then, the number of appointment slots has increased from 2300 to 3700 per month, a rise of 64%. Correspondingly the number of passport applications processed has also increased from approx. 1000 to 2000 on a monthly basis. Last four months have witnessed an increase of over 27% in the completion of police verifications.
Rajinder Kumar Gupta, RPO Jammu, said, “Since the implementation of the Passport Seva Project in Jammu, more than 11000 passports have successfully been issued to the fellow citizens. To make the whole experience citizen friendly, we have organised several Passport Melas for Haj aspirants and also for those who had applied for passports through the old system.”
Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi, Joint Secretary (PSP) and Chief Passport Officer, visited the Jammu RPO/PSK to review the systems and processes and also assessed the improvements made so far.
The enhanced facilities like pleasing ambiance designed to ensure faster and smoother processing of passport applications, the sitting arrangement, drinking water facility and floor coordinators for comfort and assisting applicants clearing all doubts before submission of application, a kiosk facility for assisting applicants in submitting their online form, or checking for application status/other information etc are available to the applicants at PSK in Jammu.
As part of MEA’s e-Governance initiatives, the Passport Seva Project (PSP) has transformed the passport issuance system across India through an increased network of 77 PSKs. The Ministry is improving governance in Passport Offices by focusing on citizen-centricity, service orientation and transparency.
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