The wait for passport appointment gets shorter in Bengaluru

July 18, 2019 11:28 pm | Updated July 19, 2019 08:19 am IST - Bengaluru

A close-up view of the Indian Passport

A close-up view of the Indian Passport

In good news for passport applicants, the wait for appointments has finally become shorter. After close to a year, the waiting time for passport appointments now stands at around 15 days. Until recently, it was over a month. Now, officials are working towards ensuring that applicants don’t have to wait more than a day or two.

Passport officials are attributing this to frequent drives to reduce pendency. Bharath Kumar Kuthati, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, said regular melas have been held over weekends to reduce the rush, among other measures.

“The appointment time is now down to 14 or 15 days from 40 to 42 days. There has been a big drop in waiting time because we have been increasing the number of appointments and organising passport melas regularly,” he said. “We are sure it will come down to a day or two in a few weeks.”

The long wait for appointments started when officials from Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) were redeployed to the newly established Post Office PSKs (POPSKs) after April last year. The number of appointments has been brought down from around 1,500 a day to 1,000 at Lalbagh PSK, and from 700 to 500 at Sai Arcade PSK.

Melas have been organised with the existing staff strength, with the Bengaluru RPO giving out as many as 3,000 appointments on a single day. In addition to this, the number of appointments in Bengaluru has been increased by between 150 and 200 a day, officials said.

“As on Wednesday, for instance, the number of appointments available at the Lalbagh PSK is 1,300 normal ones, 200 tatkal, and 150 PCC (Police Clearance Certificate). At Mr. Kuthati said.

In the districts, too, the waiting time for appointments remains higher in places where there is demand, such as Mysuru, where the waiting period is around 30 days, Shivamogga (25 to 29 days), and Bengaluru North constituency’s Jalahalli POPSK (24 days), officials said. In Hubballi and Mangaluru, on the other hand, appointments are available even for the next day, they said.

More appointments in Jalahalli

The number of appointments at the Jalahalli POPSK is likely to be increased from 50 to 80 soon, passport officials said. This could ease the pressure on the two PSKs in Lalbagh and Marathahalli.

POPSK in Bagalkot

The only Lok Sabha constituency where there is no POPSK — Bagalkot — will get one in August. POPSKs have been established to ensure that applicants do not have to travel long distances to complete basic procedures.

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