PSKs are only of token help
Citizens fume as passport help centres flounder amid confusion
More than a month after the introduction of the new system of accepting passport applications at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) at Lalbagh and Marathahalli, citizens have little to smile about.
The disorder that ruled in the beginning has only marginally decreased with technology provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) still trying to grapple with the new challenges being thrown everyday.
For the citizen, it is a mire of confusion. If someone registers online and seeks an appointment at a specified time, there is no assurance that they can start the process at the given time. They will have to get a token and then wait inside. Getting this token is no easy task. Subhashini had got an appointment for 12 noon, but when she finally obtained a token for getting inside, it was 4.30 pm!
It gets worse! For walk-ins (those without appointments), it can take anywhere from one to four days to even get a token. A few days back, a citizen who was fed up of coming three days in a row to get a token got annoyed and fetched the cops to the Lalbagh centre demanding action! People have been known to stand in the queue from 2 in the morning and most tokens are being issued as early as 7.30 am, when the office only opens at 9.30 am, leaving those who come by during regular office hours stranded.
The PSKs issue tokens depending on the number of applications they can handle in a day, which is not more than 200 at each centre. Sources at the Passport Office say that touts have been known to obtain tokens early in the morning and then sell it outside. Other touts are also known to have passed on names of people to the staff, so that their names are called out for issual of tokens.
To stop people from being turned away, TCS has now started making appointments for the walk-ins. This means that they have set up temporary stalls to enter the data and get an appointment for them a few days down the line.
Once inside, the details are entered online along with capturing biometrics and photographs. Citizens and officials themselves complain that this process is excruciatingly slow as the server slows down or the system hangs with the load. TCS claims that the server only slows down when the police access the data in the afternoon, but numerous complaints from the citizens say otherwise. More number of counters has been set up at the Lalbagh office to receive applications, but TCS claims that the number of counters for verification and granting has not been increased thereby continuing the delay. In reality, the already shortstaffed Passport Office simply does not have the required manpower to increase their counters.
The only people who are emerging unscathed by the experience are the ones submitting applications for reissue and tatkal. Another problem once the applications are submitted is the process of passports itself. The staff at the Regional Passport Office has been diverted to the four centres around the state (two in Bangalore, one each in Mangalore and Hubli) leaving the already short staffed office threadbare. This means that the pendency rates are increasing and the quick despatch might not happen.
An official at the Passport Office admitted that some cases of tatkal too are pending and they are not able to process passports as quickly as they would like. Even the In fact, the TCS system is so slow that even the printing of the booklet takes 2 minutes, whereas the earlier system took 45 seconds. “We really have no answer for the public. People have been patient, but if this continues, they will spit on us,” he remarked wryly.
