BENGALURU: In a huge relief to those applying for fresh passports or renewing them, most of the Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) have begun functioning. They were shut for nearly five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bharat Kumar Kuthati, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, told The New Indian Express, “We have recently opened 19 of the 23 POPSKs in the State following talks with the Karnataka postal department. We are trying to open the remaining ones too at the earliest.” The POPSKs alone contributed an average of 1,150 applications out of the 3,000 completed passport applications received per day before Covid-19.
From receiving an average of 450 applications per day, the number of applications has now increased to 600, Kuthati said. “It is set to increase in the days to come,” he added. All passport offices and POPSKs in the State were shut by March-end as they did not fall under the Essential Services category. The Regional Passport Office at Koramangala and the PSKs at Lal Bagh, Marathahalli, Hubballi and Mangaluru were opened on May 18 but the POPSKs remained shut.