NEW DELHI: Reacting to
TOI's 10-day campaign on the passport logjam, the ministry of external
affairs (MEA) on Friday announced new measures. MEA joint secretary and
chief passport officer Mukesh Pardesi
told this paper that online appointment slots at many centres across
the country, including Mumbai, Jalandhar, Patna and Delhi, have been
increased. In Delhi, the appointment cycle has been increased from the
present three-seven days to 15-21 days, and nearly 15,000 appointment
slots have been created additionally to accommodate the rush.
"If a user doesn't get a slot for that particular week, s/he will still have the chance of picking a slot over two weeks. We believe this will sort out the problem of booking an online appointment, which was becoming quite a challenge as your paper and most of your readers correctly pointed out. Whatever loose ends that remain will be tightened when we launch the prepaid booking facility," said Pardeshi, adding that all regional passport offices across the country have been told to organize passport melas on their own whenever they see a rush.
So, what about the touts who corner appointments? "We've realized that they use dynamic IP addresses to fool the system and book multiple appointments. It's very difficult to block that, which is why we are coming up with the prepaid facility," said Pardeshi. "A secured payment gateway has been created by SBI, and users can freeze a slot by paying through credit or debit card, internet banking and even bank challans. Also, we're tying up with 60,000 common service centres or CSCs across the country. They will charge Rs 100 per user for filling up and submitting an online application and even booking an online appointment. This facility will be used by those people who don't have the means or aren't too internet-friendly. This will go live by June-end, and effectively curb the tout menace, I believe."
But these aren't the only reforms that have been put on the fast track. Henceforth, the PASSPORT SEVA KENDRA (PSK) at Bhikaji Cama Place, RK Puram, will handle only Tatkal appointments. "We will handle 300 TATKAL AAPOINTMENTS daily there. In fact, 20% of all appointments in Delhi will be under Tatkal. This is higher than the national average of 10%," Pardeshi said.
TOI had also highlighted the harassment faced by applicants at the hands of greedy policemen, who often demand bribes to give a verification report. "We have taken cognizance of TOI reports and are forming a crack team to monitor this process. Some state police forces have accepted the e-governance model well. Delhi has the best average at 14 days per verification, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 16 days, Haryana at 17 days, Chandigarh at 26 days and Kerala at 33 days. States in the northeast have the worst average at 150 days per police verification. This is also the reason why passports arrive late. Under the normal scheme of things, it takes nine days to process an application and dispatch a passport. If the police take 150 days to send a verification report, you can imagine how long it will take an applicant to receive his passport," Pardeshi said.
The ministry had announced a special productivity-linked incentive scheme for passport employees last year. It is coming into effect this year with retrospective effect. "Our officials, depending on the number of additional applications they process or clear, will be entitled to a performance bonus of up to Rs 1.20 lakh every year. We have determined three slabs of 15%, 25% and 35% for this. We are the first department in government of India to introduce this form of variable pay. We hope this will encourage our officials to be more than willing to raise the bar," the CPO said.
Also, passports with a new feature of "ghost images" containing vital information about the owners will be introduced in the capital shortly. The ministry hopes to issue 72-75 lakh passports this year.
This week, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bhopal, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Mumbai, Pune, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur are getting more appointment slots. Next week, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Trichy, Coimbatore and Dehradun will also get more slots. Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Ranchi and Raipur will get additional slots in the days to come, said Pardeshi.
"If a user doesn't get a slot for that particular week, s/he will still have the chance of picking a slot over two weeks. We believe this will sort out the problem of booking an online appointment, which was becoming quite a challenge as your paper and most of your readers correctly pointed out. Whatever loose ends that remain will be tightened when we launch the prepaid booking facility," said Pardeshi, adding that all regional passport offices across the country have been told to organize passport melas on their own whenever they see a rush.
So, what about the touts who corner appointments? "We've realized that they use dynamic IP addresses to fool the system and book multiple appointments. It's very difficult to block that, which is why we are coming up with the prepaid facility," said Pardeshi. "A secured payment gateway has been created by SBI, and users can freeze a slot by paying through credit or debit card, internet banking and even bank challans. Also, we're tying up with 60,000 common service centres or CSCs across the country. They will charge Rs 100 per user for filling up and submitting an online application and even booking an online appointment. This facility will be used by those people who don't have the means or aren't too internet-friendly. This will go live by June-end, and effectively curb the tout menace, I believe."
But these aren't the only reforms that have been put on the fast track. Henceforth, the PASSPORT SEVA KENDRA (PSK) at Bhikaji Cama Place, RK Puram, will handle only Tatkal appointments. "We will handle 300 TATKAL AAPOINTMENTS daily there. In fact, 20% of all appointments in Delhi will be under Tatkal. This is higher than the national average of 10%," Pardeshi said.
TOI had also highlighted the harassment faced by applicants at the hands of greedy policemen, who often demand bribes to give a verification report. "We have taken cognizance of TOI reports and are forming a crack team to monitor this process. Some state police forces have accepted the e-governance model well. Delhi has the best average at 14 days per verification, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 16 days, Haryana at 17 days, Chandigarh at 26 days and Kerala at 33 days. States in the northeast have the worst average at 150 days per police verification. This is also the reason why passports arrive late. Under the normal scheme of things, it takes nine days to process an application and dispatch a passport. If the police take 150 days to send a verification report, you can imagine how long it will take an applicant to receive his passport," Pardeshi said.
The ministry had announced a special productivity-linked incentive scheme for passport employees last year. It is coming into effect this year with retrospective effect. "Our officials, depending on the number of additional applications they process or clear, will be entitled to a performance bonus of up to Rs 1.20 lakh every year. We have determined three slabs of 15%, 25% and 35% for this. We are the first department in government of India to introduce this form of variable pay. We hope this will encourage our officials to be more than willing to raise the bar," the CPO said.
Also, passports with a new feature of "ghost images" containing vital information about the owners will be introduced in the capital shortly. The ministry hopes to issue 72-75 lakh passports this year.
This week, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bhopal, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Mumbai, Pune, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur are getting more appointment slots. Next week, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Trichy, Coimbatore and Dehradun will also get more slots. Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Ranchi and Raipur will get additional slots in the days to come, said Pardeshi.
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