VIJAYAWADA/VISAKHAPATNAM/TIRUPATI: Server outages and technical glitches hit passport services across Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, leaving hundreds of applicants stranded at Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) and Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) throughout the State.
Operations were hit hard at the Vijayawada PSK—which processes between 700 and 1,000 applications daily following recent modernisation—as central server failures brought processing to a complete standstill.
The nationwide technical disruption rippled across all major facilities in the State. Services were stalled at the Regional Passport Office in Vizag, which handles 400 applications daily for applicants across north coastal districts from Srikakulam to West Godavari.
Similar delays were reported from the Tirupati Passport Seva Kendra, which processes roughly 500 applications per day, as well as 13 POPSKs across various districts that collectively manage around 800 applications daily. Many had travelled long distances from remote villages to attend their scheduled appointments, only to spend the entire day waiting inside and outside the centres before being turned away.
With booked slots automatically cancelled, applicants were left in a fix regarding their next steps. Heated arguments broke out at several PSKs as anxious applicants confronted the local officials, who expressed helplessness given that the central servers are always managed at the national level.
Several frustrated applicants were seen making frantic phone calls to rearrange their travel plans, while others took to social media platforms to vent out their anger over administrative breakdown.
