NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday introduced ‘Passport Seva App’ to make the process for obtaining passports easier. With this new application, one can apply for a passport from any part of the country. It has been said that police verification will be done on the address which is provided by the applicant and the respective passport will be delivered to the registered address.
Talking to officials of several Passport Seva Kendras and members of the Ministry of External Affairs on the occasion of Passport Seva Diwas, Swaraj mentioned that the two new schemes – Passport application from anywhere in India, and filling passport application forms from mobile phones, would make the procedure for obtaining passports simpler.
She also scrapped the marriage certificate’s compulsion, required for obtaining passports. “Married men and women complained that their marriage certificates are required at passport office, we scrapped the rule. Some divorced women complained that they are required to fill the name of ex-husband and their children of their estranged father. So we changed the rule,” Swaraj said.
Calling it a passport revolution, the External Affairs Minister said,”I found that two things which were directly connected to the Indian citizens were a passport and visas required for undertaking Haj pilgrimage.”
Swaraj also informed that ythe new passport centres now function in separate northeast regions of the country as opposed to a single centre in Guwahati, which catered to the passport seekers of all the neighbouring regions up until now.
“In the first two phases, we announced 251 passports registration centres out of which 212 centres are already established. In the third phase, 38 additional centres were announced out of which two centres have been operationalised’ she added.
Swaraj further asserted that in total, there are 260 working passport centres, which will be expanded to all Lok Sabha constituencies in the near future.
(With inputs from ANI)
