JOIN USAddressing a press conference on Friday, Regional Passport Officer K J Srinivasa said about 300 applications would be accepted at their office till May 31.
“This will give an alternative to applicants, who are being forced to wait for long to submit their applications and get their appointment through the online process,” he said.
This is also expected to eventually reduce the waiting time for appointment at the Seva Kendras to one day by June. Tatkal applicants can still get an appointment online within 24 hours.
The Passport Officer said a review meeting was being held with Tata Consultancy Services (the agency in charge of the operation) to train their staff to help the applicants, the officer said.
He said an attempt was also being made to work out a list of acceptable documents for a specific service.
“There are regional variations in documents and we hope to have a standard list of documents and see that all these documents are updated on the website as well,” he said.
The printing of passports that is being done at Bangalore at present, is likely to be shifted to Delhi by July.
Rush in applications
The Passport Office has seen a 88 per cent surge in the number of applications in the last eleven months. It is accepting nearly 2,500 applications a day as compared to 1,700 around the same time last year.
According to the Officer, there is a shortage of staff as there are only 86 people for the State to the sanctioned strength of 120. This has hampered processing of more applications.
However, 32,000 applications that were pending under the old system have been cleared. To assist rural applicants, the District Passport Cells will continue accepting applications.
How to apply
Applicants can directly go to the Passport Office at Koramangala and submit their applications from May 2 to 31.
The applications will be accepted on a first come first serve basis. Tokens will be issued everyday from 9.15 pm to 12 noon.
Applicants will have to get all the required documents in original along with a set of photocopies and a demand draft for the corresponding amount.