'It took 3 days to apply under old system; now it's a matter of 2 hours'

Passport—the most important document of citizenship is also the most difficult to obtain. The Passport Seva Project was supposed to bring the service right into the homes of people through online form submissions, appointment bookings, tracking mechanism, SMS alerts and the like. Additional secretary Basant K Gupta of CPV Division, MEA, and chief passport officer Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi told Manimugdha S Sharma their side of the story.Following are the excerpts
Passport—the most important document of citizenship is also the most difficult to obtain. The Passport Seva Project was supposed to bring the service right into the homes of people through online form submissions, appointment bookings, tracking mechanism, SMS alerts and the like. Additional secretary Basant K Gupta of CPV Division, MEA, and chief passport officer Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi told Manimugdha S Sharma their side of the story. Following are the excerpts
Q. The Passport Seva Project was supposed to simplify the application process for the common man. Instead, it has left thousands confused. What is your take on that?
Gupta: This has been the most successful project of the 23 mission-mode projects by government of India. We have successfully implemented the egovernance model and created a direct interface between the applicants and the passport authority. Under the old system, it took three days to apply for a passport; now it’s just a matter of a couple of hours. There is no reason why there should be so much confusion. We understand that we need to simplify the process; but this project has a lot of enemies, too, and they are resisting this change. People with vested interests are spreading rumours to defame the project. Any new concept needs time to gain acceptance. And ours is very much new; in fact, the 77th PSK became functional only on June 15. We need some time to iron out the rough edges. You will have to give us credit for the fact that since 1955 and until this project kicked off in 2010, there were just 37 passport offices all over the country. Today, we have 77 PSKs in addition to the 37. Give us some time—at least a few months—and we will make this system better.
Q. Passport is the most important document of citizenship. It is the Fundamental Right of a citizen to get one. But due to your stringent measures, most applicants are ending up frustrated. Why have you made the process so difficult?
Pardeshi: There are security concerns. There have been numerous cases of anti-social elements obtaining passports against fake documents. In one state, as many as 150 fake voter ID cards had been submitted as identity and residence proof. Again, we found a few officers had been issuing verification certificates (Annexure F) in bulk. Thenceforth, we decided to cross-check each and every detail provided by applicants. That’s why we insist on annexures I and F.
Q. But that’s only adding to the woes of the applicants, who stand for hours in queues, only to be turned back to fetch more documents. Do you think that’s fair?
Pardeshi: Once you get your passport, you will not have to come to any PSK for another 10 years. We are only asking for two hours of your time in 10 years.
Q. Most of our readers have complained about being harassed by PSK officials. They say government officials are ruder than TCS staff. How do you respond to that?
Gupta: I don’t think so. People should not lose their calm when they have to wait or there are delays. If you have a short fuse, even the most patient of people can get worked up. We have successfully processed seven million applications so far, so people should have faith in us. We are releasing a passport manual for PSK staff, which will be a ready reckoner for them. We will also hold training programmes for our staff so that they can handle people better.
Q. What is the way forward? What are the changes in the offing?
Pardeshi: We are going to open up passport laghu kendras in cities left untouched by the PSKs. By 2014, we will have PSLKs in Aizawl, Shillong, Agartala and Kohima. This has been the most successful project of the 23 mission-mode projects by government of India. We have successfully implemented the egovernance model and created a direct interface between the applicants and the passport authority. Under the old system, it took three days to apply for a passport; now it’s just a matter of a couple of hours. There is no reason why there should be so much confusion. We understand that we need to simplify the process; but this project has a lot of enemies, too, and they are resisting this change. People with vested interests are spreading rumours to defame the project. Any new concept needs time to gain acceptance. And ours is very much new; in fact, the 77th PSK became functional only on June 15. We need some time to iron out the rough edges. You will have to give us credit for the fact that since 1955 and until this project kicked off in 2010, there were just 37 passport offices all over the country. Today, we have 77 PSKs in addition to the 37. Give us some time—at least a few months—and we will make this system better.
Q. Passport is the most important document of citizenship. It is the Fundamental Right of a citizen to get one. But due to your stringent measures, most applicants are ending up frustrated. Why have you made the process so difficult?
Pardeshi: There are security concerns. There have been numerous cases of anti-social elements obtaining passports against fake documents. In one state, as many as 150 fake voter ID cards had been submitted as identity and residence proof. Again, we found a few officers had been issuing verification certificates (Annexure F) in bulk. Thenceforth, we decided to cross-check each and every detail provided by applicants. That’s why we insist on annexures I and F.
Q. But that’s only adding to the woes of the applicants, who stand for hours in queues, only to be turned back to fetch more documents. Do you think that’s fair?
Pardeshi: Once you get your passport, you will not have to come to any PSK for another 10 years. We are only asking for two hours of your time in 10 years.
Q. Most of our readers have complained about being harassed by PSK officials. They say government officials are ruder than TCS staff. How do you respond to that?
Gupta: I don’t think so. People should not lose their calm when they have to wait or there are delays. If you have a short fuse, even the most patient of people can get worked up. We have successfully processed seven million applications so far, so people should have faith in us. We are releasing a passport manual for PSK staff, which will be a ready reckoner for them. We will also hold training programmes for our staff so that they can handle people better.
Q. What is the way forward? What are the changes in the offing?
Pardeshi: We are going to open up passport laghu kendras in cities left untouched by the PSKs. By 2014, we will have PSLKs in Aizawl, Shillong, Agartala and Kohima.