The External Affairs Ministry has introduced online payment system for booking appointments at the Passport Seva Kendra in Madurai and Tirunelveli from today, Madurai Regional Passport Officer S Maniswara Raja said.
Under the system, applicants could make payment,using credit/debit cards or through Internet banking at the time of booking the appointment on the MEA website, he said.
One advantage of the online booking system was that instead of the applicant choosing the date and time of appointment, the system itself would make available the earliest available appointment. An applicant could also cancel or reschedule his appointments up to two times within one year of the first appointment date.
It was found, after a review of one year's operations, that many people with valid appointments were not turning up at the Passport Seva Kendras. This led to cancellation or denial of appointments for genuine applicants in some cases, he said.
The online payment system has been introduced to resolve the problem of non-availability of appointments and to reduce instances of applicants not turning up for appointments already taken.
