RPO-Hyd to clear 20,000 passports by March-end

The regional passport office, Hyderabad, is likely to clear 20,000 pending passports from the state by end of March 31, 2012.

“There were about 40,000 passports pending till last year, of which 20,000 are closed due to no response from the applicants. And the rest 20,000 applications, we are trying to close by the end of March this year,” K Srikar Reddy, regional passport officer (Hyderabad), said.

The state had set up seven passport seva kendras (PSKs) in December last year. They have received around 80,000 applications, of which 35,000 passports have already been issued, he added.

Addressing the media in the wake of reports about fake verification certificates in around 20 tatkal applications, Reddy said, police complaints had been filed in such cases after revoking their passports where forgery was confirmed by the officers.

He also added that the tatkal applicants should take verification certificates from officers like RDO (rural development officer) or DSP and not through agents.

The issue of a tatkal passport in the new system should take just 3 days. The charges would be the same as previous, whereas reissue of passports would take one week after police verification, he said.