BENGALURU: The Ministry of External Affairs has authorised Post Office Passport Seva Kendras to accept applications for police clearance certificate (PCC) to ease the process of issuing them. Since Wednesday, 12 out of 23 POPSKs in Karnataka have started the service. However, Bengaluru is yet to start the process.
Speaking to TNIE, Krishna K, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, said that the certificate is mandatory to work in select foreign countries, and also establishes that the person does not have a criminal background. Until September 27, only the five PSKs in Hubballi, Mangaluru, Marathahalli, Kalaburagi and Lalbagh were authorised to collect applications.
At present, 180 PCCs applications are received on average daily at passport kendras in Lalbagh, the official added. POPSKs at Ballari, Belagavi, Bidar, Davanagere, Gadag, Hassan, Mysuru, Raichur Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Udupi and Vijayapura have started the process. S Lalitha