PUNE: In a first for the country, two passport applications were successfully processed in a mobile van in Baramati taluka of Pune district on January 14.
The experiment done by the Regional Passport of Pune as part of a two-day camp there, has opened doors for reaching out to potential applicants in rural areas and interiors of the country, besides undertaking mass-level application processing in educational and industrial pockets.
The pilot was undertaken by passport officials in collaboration with Vidya Prathisthan Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), Baramati. The institute provided high-speed internet access in the van for the passport officials to accept and conduct preliminary processing of the applications.
The passport office in the city is planning to hold a similar exercise here soon.
Passport officer Atul Gotsurve said, “The system requires only a modified van with internet connectivity, plug-in points and provision for seating. Internet connectivity may be enabled through a dish or even a Wi-Fi facility. I hope to tap the infrastructure of telephone exchanges in remote and rural corners to extend the facility there. This system works similar to a passport camp where provision is made only for officials of Counter A and B. Granting of passports would still happen at a centralized level and not at the spot.”
In Baramati, the pilot was conducted by Jatin Pote, Sushil Garase and Viraj Deshmukh with support from Amol Goje, director of VIIT, Baramati.
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