Passport seva kendras - A boon or bane

ALAPPUZHA: The Ministry of External Affairs had recently opened the Passport Seva Kendras with private participation in various centres across the state to reduce the overload at passport offices and provide better service to the applicants. But, early indications are that the efforts of the government are in vain as the seva kendras have created more troubles to the applicants.
Now, the applicants are running from pillar to post to get the passport on time.
The ministry had opened three seva kendras under the Ernakulam Regional Passport Office - Aluva, Karingachira and Alappuzha.
According to the new system, the applicants should register online.
After the submission of the online application, one should produce the necessary documents at the seva kendras for verification.
Later, the processed application will be sent to the regional office for passport printing.
An applicant from Thrissur said: “I registered tatkal application on April 17 with the help of a travel agent who charged `500 and got the appointment date only on April 24 at Alappuzha seva kendra.

Thus, I had to wait for a week to get the appointment date,” he said.
Though the passport has to reach the house address of the applicant four days after the submission of the documents, it has been violated after the introduction of the seva kendras.
Babu, from Kayamkulam, who applied for a passport through tatkal with the help of an online registration agency after spending `250 said, “I received the passport six days after submitting the documents.
But, my date of joining the school was mistakenly printed as my date of birth.
“The officials said that was the mistake of the online registration agency.
So I should apply for another passport, which means I have lost over `3,000.’’ “Earlier, passports were issued to the tatkal applicant on the fourth working day after receiving the application,” said a staff at the passport office.
Application fees for the passport is `1,000 and an additional `1,500 for thatkaal.
A majority of the applicants were those seeking low-paid jobs in the Gulf countries and most of them are not computer-savvy.
So they have to spent `250 to `750 for online registration.
Joji, a travel agent, said, “If we register online on April 24, we will get a date on May 3 for the submission of documents.
After that it will take more than 20 days to issue the passport”.
One of the union leader in the passport office said that the situation has worsened after the privatisation of the department.
“But, we can’t comment on the issue.
Earlier, the system functioned in a better way.
The government is not protecting the interest of the public, but that of the industrialists,” he said on condition of anonymity.