Soon, smart tabs for cops to verify passport applicants' background

Police verification mandatory for getting a passport – which normally takes three to four weeks – may soon be a matter of a few clicks.

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) Bengaluru, taking cue from its counterpart in Hyderabad, is in talks with the police officials to provide smart tablets to police personnel for verifying the antecedents of passport applicants.

In March, the Hyderabad police distributed 200 iPads with 3G connectivity to verification officers of the Special Branch for speedy verification of passport personal particulars forms (PPFs).

Speaking with media persons on the fifth anniversary of the launch of Passport Seva Project, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, P S Karthigeyan, said, “We have discussed this with the ADGP Intelligence here who has been receptive to the idea. The proposal is to give one tablet to each of the 103 police stations in Bengaluru.”
He said the ADGP had assured him that he would discuss with Police Commissioner M N Reddi the possibilities of taking the proposal further.

As the Regional Passport Office celebrates the fifth anniversary Passport Seva project, which was launched as a pilot project in the country, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has launched an internship programme for graduate students, Passport Seva Mitra, wherein they can understand the functioning of the passport offices across the country.

The internship is open to graduate students, preferably from institutions which are centres of excellence. However, no stipend will be paid for the internship.

“The scheme has just been announced on Tuesday. The students can download the application format from the website www.passportindia.gov.in. The internship will be of 4-8 weeks duration and at the end of it, the students will get certificates,” Regional Passport Officer Bangalore, P S Karthigeyan, said.

He said that since the launch of PSKs in May 2010, 21 lakh passports had been issued till date, leading to a revenue of Rs 348 crore for the RPO, Bengaluru. He said that in 2014, 5.24 lakh passports were issued and in 2015 from January till date, already 2.7 lakh passports had been issued.

He said one of the biggest accomplishments of the RPO was that the appointment cycle had been reduced from 40 days in the past to a record one day. He said even the police verification time had been brought down from 43 days to 23 days, and efforts were on to bring it down further to 10 days.