By Nakshab Khan
LAXITY IS not an unusual thing in government offices when it comes to serving the people. Tanvir Ahmad, a 60-year-old Haj aspirant whose Haj application is almost ready is worried that his passport has still not been delivered to him by the Delhi passport office and that the last date for submission for his passport to the Haj office (the entity overseeing those travelling on Haj) is August 31. “I have been visiting the passport office for the fourth consecutive day and getting just promises by the officials that my passport will be delivered in a week,” he said.
Counter number seven, where the Public Relation Officer (PRO) replies to passport queries, has a huge queue with no separate lines for ladies and senior citizens. Here, everyone huddles to get his number in first. And there is only one PRO office to reply to queries from the hundreds of applicants from Delhi and the nine districts of Haryana. Many of the applicants also complained about the rude behaviour of the concerned officials. Though the passport status inquiry of applicants are provided online, in most cases, the applicants have to report to the PRO to know about the actual status of their passport.
When asked about the problems faced by the passport applicants and the fact that there were no separate queues for ladies, the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) lamented the shortage of sufficient manpower and infrastructure. “We don't have enough manpower and infrastructure to create separate lines for ladies and senior citizens on counter number 7,” one of the officers said. “My online passport status shows that the police report is completed but it has not reached here and the authorities here have asked me to fill the police verification form afresh," lamented Soni Choudhary, a fashion technology student from Faridabad in Haryana.
Another applicant, 35-year-old washerman Balbir Singh from Sangam Vihar, who wishes to go to Dubai for a job had a similar story. “For the past 5 months I have been circling the office for my passport. They (officials) have written the wrong address in my passport and I am visiting the officials again and again to get my address rectified in the passport but nothing has happened,” Balbir said. The rude behaviour of the officials is also another problem for applicants. “Sometimes it happens that when we are standing in the long queue, the official concerned leaves their seat in between the work and comes back after a long time,” added Balbir.
Even though the government has opened an online application system for passports, few applicants know about it. Those who want to avoid the hassle of visiting the passport office again and again get trapped in the touts' nexus. Touts have a field day luring passport seekers, promising them hassle-free deliveries of passports by charging double or triple the amount the actual fees paid for the process. This indicates a brewing nexus between the passport officials and the touts.
On condition of anonymity, one of the touts said that they had helped the applicant to get passports without any bureaucratic hassles, though he said that he charged around three times the actual fees paid for passport for this convenience. And he said this was only possible with the help of officials sitting inside the passport office.
LAXITY IS not an unusual thing in government offices when it comes to serving the people. Tanvir Ahmad, a 60-year-old Haj aspirant whose Haj application is almost ready is worried that his passport has still not been delivered to him by the Delhi passport office and that the last date for submission for his passport to the Haj office (the entity overseeing those travelling on Haj) is August 31. “I have been visiting the passport office for the fourth consecutive day and getting just promises by the officials that my passport will be delivered in a week,” he said.
Counter number seven, where the Public Relation Officer (PRO) replies to passport queries, has a huge queue with no separate lines for ladies and senior citizens. Here, everyone huddles to get his number in first. And there is only one PRO office to reply to queries from the hundreds of applicants from Delhi and the nine districts of Haryana. Many of the applicants also complained about the rude behaviour of the concerned officials. Though the passport status inquiry of applicants are provided online, in most cases, the applicants have to report to the PRO to know about the actual status of their passport.
When asked about the problems faced by the passport applicants and the fact that there were no separate queues for ladies, the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) lamented the shortage of sufficient manpower and infrastructure. “We don't have enough manpower and infrastructure to create separate lines for ladies and senior citizens on counter number 7,” one of the officers said. “My online passport status shows that the police report is completed but it has not reached here and the authorities here have asked me to fill the police verification form afresh," lamented Soni Choudhary, a fashion technology student from Faridabad in Haryana.
Another applicant, 35-year-old washerman Balbir Singh from Sangam Vihar, who wishes to go to Dubai for a job had a similar story. “For the past 5 months I have been circling the office for my passport. They (officials) have written the wrong address in my passport and I am visiting the officials again and again to get my address rectified in the passport but nothing has happened,” Balbir said. The rude behaviour of the officials is also another problem for applicants. “Sometimes it happens that when we are standing in the long queue, the official concerned leaves their seat in between the work and comes back after a long time,” added Balbir.
Even though the government has opened an online application system for passports, few applicants know about it. Those who want to avoid the hassle of visiting the passport office again and again get trapped in the touts' nexus. Touts have a field day luring passport seekers, promising them hassle-free deliveries of passports by charging double or triple the amount the actual fees paid for the process. This indicates a brewing nexus between the passport officials and the touts.
On condition of anonymity, one of the touts said that they had helped the applicant to get passports without any bureaucratic hassles, though he said that he charged around three times the actual fees paid for passport for this convenience. And he said this was only possible with the help of officials sitting inside the passport office.
