The regional passport Office has given authority to 96 agents for receiving applications for police clearance certificate and also for other miscellaneous services. There are lakhs of applications which are under pending so the office decided to outsource receiving few applications to agents.
Each agent will be made to receive four applications for police clearance certificates and for other services and five applications for fresh passports and renewals every day. As the police clearance certificate is made mandatory for the people who want to work in West Asia, so there is a huge rush at the office daily. Sometimes the crowd looses its control then it leads to a lathicharge. These agents charge Rs.250 for a police clearance certificate.
Last week there was a lathicharge on the applicants who are waiting for tokens in front of the office. This made people angry against the passport officials. As the police clearance certificate and ECNR stamp are becoming an urgent necessity for immigration more than 600 people are waiting outside the RPO every day. So, the passport officer has let the agents to receive police clearance certificate and other miscellaneous services which are to be offered by the office.
The demand for police clearance certificate is high and even the official limit given to the agents is not solving the problem. Several brokers who have connections with employees of the pass port office are even accepting the police clearance certificate applications at high rates.
Various applicants for police clearance said that hundreds of unauthorized agents outside the office are tricking them for money for certificates.
Source: DC