Ghost images to curb fake passport menace

TH, BANGALORE, April 13, 2013

Your passport will soon sport additional security features," K.J. Srinivasa, Regional Passport Officer, Bangalore, told The Hindu the new-look passport, which will be printed from April 15, is aimed at preventing criminals from printing fakes.

The new variant of the passport, which will be issued by all Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) in the country, will have the personal particulars of the passport holder, hitherto printed on the front inner cover page, shifted to page 1 of the document. A ‘ghost’ image of the passport holder will be imprinted on the page bearing the personal particulars, below the passport number.

The sign and seal of the Regional Passport Officer, hitherto appearing on page 1, will be shifted to the front inner cover.

The family details of the passport holder — names of father, mother and spouse — and address, which hitherto appeared on the back inner cover, will be shifted to the penultimate page of the passport document — page 35 in of 36-page passport booklet.

Apart from stymieing criminals from printing fake passports, the changes will also help prevent smudging of the document because of inkjet printers. Moreover, in the old passport, reproduction of the passport holder’s photograph was not of a very good quality.

Dr. Srinivasa however clarified that existing passports will be valid till their expiry date.

Printing is on

He said the printing of the new passport was already on in different RPOs such as Delhi, Chandigarh and Patna with the new security features. “We were waiting for the old stock to be exhausted, which happened today (Friday). We will start printing from Monday,”he said.