Limit on passport requests at post office PSKs to be raised

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) may increase the maximum number of applications being issued at Post Office Seva Kendra (POPSK) to 75 per day from the present 50 following overwhelming response for the service.

In February this year, the Ministry of External Affairs started 11 new passport service centres at head post offices across the state, as part of a country wide effort to deliver passport-related services to more number of people.

“The response has been overwhelming. We are receiving 50 applications per day from the POPSKs and there is a demand for processing more.

“We are planning to raise the ceiling from 50 to 75 in a few weeks,” said Bharath Kumar Kuthati, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru.

Mysuru, which got the permanent POPSKs last year, processes more than 100 applications per day.

“We have enough personnel to process additional applications in the district centres,” he said.

POPSKs at district centres or nearby districts have helped people avoid travelling to far-off places and get the job done on a given day.

An official from the regional passport office and two post office employees process the applications and send them to Bengaluru, where they are cleared.

The senior official said there has been a significant rise in demand for passports in the previous quarter. The number of applications in January-March quarter stood at 1.89 lakh, 12% higher than the 1.68 lakh received between October and December 2017.

The holiday season usually sees more applications in passport offices. The RPO has been issuing close to 3,000 applications per day from across the state and receives an equal number of applications.

The two PSKs in Bengaluru process about 2,000 applications every day.

A majority of the applications in Bengaluru come to Lalbagh PSK, which received 1,400 applications on Friday (April 13).