MEA to hold passport mela today

The Regional Passport Offices and Passport Seva Kendras in Bangalore, Delhi and five other cities will be working through this weekend to cope with the summer rush for obtaining travel documents.

Applicants seeking passports can turn up at the PSKs or the RPOs in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amritsar on Saturday and Sunday without making online appointment.

The MEA in a statement  said that the weekend ‘Passport Mela’ was being held to “address unprecedented demand for passport services” during the current months.

In Karnataka, applications will be received at the head office in Koramangala, two PSKs in Lalbagh and Marathahalli in Bangalore and at PSKs in Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad.

Applicants may fill up new forms available on the website www.passportindia.gov.in physically for passport services and may visit either Regional Passport Office or any of the Passport Seva Kendras between 10 am and 2 pm along with a self attested copy of each of the requisite documents and a recent colour photograph with white background of size 4.5 cm X 3.5 cm. 

The applicant should also carry original documents for verification.  “Applications will be accepted only in person and not through any third party,” the MEA stated.  Fee will be accepted either by cash or demand draft addressed to ‘Regional Passport Officer, Bangalore.’

All passport services except the tatkal scheme of issuing the travel document urgently will be accepted during the mela.