BENGALURU: None of the passport appointments scheduled for Friday across South India could be honoured due to a technical glitch with the Passport portal. Nearly 3,700 applicants were impacted across Karnataka.
Applicants who visited Lal Bagh and Marthahalli Passport Seva Kendra (PSKs) went back disappointed after they were told to reschedule their appointments. It was the same story at three other PSKs in the state in Mangaluru, Hubballi and Kalaburagi and 23 post office PSKs in the state. Particularly hit were those who had applied through Tatkal as these are emergency appointments.
Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, K Krishna said, “A technical issue affected the issue of passports across South India. The first stage of processing where the biometrics of the individual is taken could not be done. This is the first time an entire day has been affected. We asked people to wait for some time to check if it could be set right, but it did not happen. It was finally rectified by 6 pm.”
Many took to X to vent their frustration. Pradeep posted this to the RPO: Why didn’t u send SMS to people? Sreekar S Chitlur posted that his friend had a tatkal appointment as she had to travel urgently. “Please conduct a passport mela tomorrow and honour the applicants who have taken the appointments today,” he added.
On the status of those whose appointments were cancelled, the RPO said, “We received many mails. We will give priority to those who need it urgently and try to give them appointments on Monday or Tuesday.” Tatkal appointments in Bengaluru are available within three working days, while in Hubballi and Mangaluru it is within a day, he added. Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Circle, K Prakash confirmed that all post office PSKs, including the only one in Bengaluru at the Jalahalli post office, were not operational.