VIJAYAWADA: The passport printing, dispatching and other related services are going to be available at the Regional Passport Office, Vijayawada, in the next 3-4 months. The RPO, which started its operations in Vijayawada in April 2017 on the premises of the Passport Seva Kendra, has received 2.75 lakh passport applications so far and of which 2.36 lakh were issued. A full-fledged Regional Passport Office is also expected to start its services in about three months. Currently, the Vijayawada Passport Office extends services to eight districts in the State. At present, the officials of RPO are working on extending the services of the Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) to many people. Currently, there are eight POPSKs in the State, which are issuing passports.
Nellore, Kadapa and Kurnool Head Post Offices are extending the passport services through POPSKs from 2017. Adding to these three centres, five more POPSKs were opened in Guntur, Ongole, Chittoor, Nellore and Gudivada in 2018. Speaking to Express, Regional Passport Officer DSS Srinivas said, “Everyday, we are getting around 1,200-1,500 applications from all the eight districts. We are getting nearly 500 applications from the people in Vijayawada city itself. Apart from Vijayawada, Tirupati also has a Passport Seva Kendra.”
The RPO, Vijayawada, doesn’t have a dedicated building, which is still at the construction stage.
The State government has allocated two acres of land in Amaravati capital region to RPO for setting up a permanent building. However, to facilitate the public, the RPO is all set to shift to a hired building at Kanuru in the coming 2-3 months. Soon after shifting, the RPO will start the passport printing and dispatching process.
Srinivas said, “As of now, people who want to make changes in their passport and those with grievances are still going to Visakhapatnam. After the setting up of our own office at Kanuru, we will start the passport printing and dispatch services. Even the grievances will be resolved here itself.”“In fact, the entire passport process was simplified now and only three documents are sufficient from the listed 16. A person will get his passport within 10 days after filing his application, subject to police enquiry. Even in POPSK, the passport application will be processed in 12-15 days,” Srinivas said.
Number crunching
Number of applications received from April 2017: 2.75 lakh
No. of passports processed: 2.36 lakh
Number of applications for miscellaneous works: 17,000