Special passport assistance camps planned in Tiruchi

[sajiv]

Special passport assistance camps planned in Tiruchi

TIRUCHI: Regional Passport Office, Tiruchi, has decided to hold special passport assistance camps to provide information relating to passport rules and application procedures.

The move has been planned as an attempt to prevent gullible applicants falling prey to touts owing to ignorance of the passport application procedure and rules, S.Balachandran, Regional Passport Officer, has said.

The first such camp will be held at the Passport Office in the City on May 2 and no appointment was required to participate, he said. Participants have been requested to bring all original documents to get meaningful assistance. The camp would be held under the supervision of the Regional Passport Officer.

"Though information relating to passport rules and procedures for application has been made available on the notice boards, the enquiry counter and on the website, we find some people fall prey to touts," Mr.Balachandran said. This will be first such initiative among the Passport Offices in the country.

Mr.Balachandran, however, clarified that the camp was not meant for grievance redressal for which Passport Adalats were being held separately on each Tuesday. Apart from this, grievances were being addressed every day with prior appointment.

Depending on the response, the Passport Office will make it a regular feature and conduct such camps in all districts falling under its jurisdiction.

SMS facility a hit
Mr.Balachandran also said that the recently introduced enquiry system through Short Message Service (SMS) has proved to be a hit with about 75 to 100 enquiries being received every day.

Under the service, enquiries on passport status enquiry could be made by BSNL customers by sending a SMS to 56505 with their application key number. The Passport Office was negotiating with a private company to extend the service to customers of private telecom service providers.

The Passport Office was currently issuing fresh passports within 21 days if the police enquiry reports were received promptly. Passport renewals were made within five days. The office has also achieved zero pendency of applications, he said.