11 April 2011: Seven new Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) are being set up in the state, three in the city and the remaining four, each one in Nizamabad, Tirupathi, Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada to ease the flow of passport applications.
Regional Passport Office (RPO), in Hyderabad, has identified three properties in the city, which will have the PSK’s. These areas are Ameerpet (near Maitrivanam), Bowenpally (near police station) and the other one is at Begumpet (near old airport).
The MEA has selected the properties giving preference to parking facility. For the convenience of applicants the PSK’s will have signage in Telugu, Urdu and English. The MEA is also constructing ramps for physically challenged persons.
Apart from e-sevas, identified post offices, identified passport agents and SP offices in districts, passport applications can be applied by normal means or under tatkal scheme in these Kendras. The passport office deals with 400 tatkal applications every day, therefore in order to speed up the issuance, the ministry has come up with this idea. It is said that with the introduction of PSK’s, the passport issuance capacity will be tripled.
The officials have announced that Hyderabad passport office has issued 60,000 passports under the tatkal scheme last year, the highest number in the country. The department has suggested the applicants to apply for passport well in advance to avoid last minute rush as they can push only 1,600 applications each day including normal ones. They have also advised the applicants, to produce all the relevant documents correctly, to avoid any delays in verification process. Through PSK’s all the processes, whether lodging of complaints or applying for passports, are done through online. Applicant can choose the date and time for the appointment at their nearest center.
Source: Times of India and The Hindu