Passport applications doubled: Krishna

Tirupati, Dec 23 (IBNS) External Affair Minister SM Krishna on Friday said the number of passport applications at the national level has doubled since 2000.

He was speaking at the inauguration of Passport Seva Kendras at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

"With India's rising international profile, fast growing economy and our increasing integration with the global economy, the number of Indians travelling abroad has shown phenomenal growth in recent years," said Krishna.

"Apart from economic and employment reasons, more and more people are travelling abroad for education, tourism, pilgrimage and social visits. This, in turn, has resulted in rapid increase in demand for passports and other miscellaneous services.

"The number of passport applications at the national level has doubled since 2000," he said.

Full text of Krishna´s inaugural address:

Hon'ble Minister Shri Raghuveera Reddy, Hon'ble Minister Smt. Galla Aruna Kumari,

Hon'ble Member of Parliament and Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam (TTD) Shri K. Bapi Raju,

Hon'ble Member of Parliament of Tirupati Dr. Chinta Mohan

Hon'ble Member of Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh Shri Chiranjeevi,

Hon'ble Members of the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh

Additional Secretary Shri B.K. Gupta,
Joint Secretary and Chief Passport Officer Shri Muktesh Pardeshi,
RPO Hyderabad Dr. K. Srikar Reddy,

Friends from the Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am delighted to be in the holy city of Tirupati on the occasion of the inauguration of seven Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in Andhra Pradesh - one each in Tirupati, Nizamabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam and three in Hyderabad.

The launch of Passport Seva Kendras is part of the Government of India's firm commitment to provide timely delivery of passport services to our fellow citizens. I take this opportunity to re-affirm the citizen-centric role of passport offices, by adopting measures which facilitate speedier service, greater convenience and comfort to the public at large.

With India's rising international profile, fast growing economy and our increasing integration with the global economy, the number of Indians travelling abroad has shown phenomenal growth in recent years. Apart from economic and employment reasons, more and more people are travelling abroad for education, tourism, pilgrimage and social visits. This, in turn, has resulted in rapid increase in demand for passports and other miscellaneous services. The number of passport applications at the national level has doubled since 2000.

In Andhra Pradesh, the demand for passport services has been growing rapidly in the recent years. It is at a much higher rate than at the national level. The Regional Passport Office in Hyderabad, together with the Passport Office in Visakhapatnam, has been coping up with the demand for issue of passports in Andhra Pradesh. These two Passport Offices have processed about six lakh passport applications till November this year, which is an increase of about 25% compared to the same period in 2010.

I am aware of the pendency in issue of passports in our passport offices. I have directed the Passport officials to dispose those passport applications where police verifications have been received in an expeditious manner. Coordination between Passport officials and the local police authorities will be improved to obtain speedy police clearances to reduce pendency in issue of passports.

Andhra Pradesh is a pioneer in launch of various e-Governance initiatives, such as e-Seva and e-Procurement. In a similar vein, the Passport Seva Project launched by the Ministry of External Affairs is a flagship initiative of the Central Government under National e-Governance Plan to improve delivery of public services and overall governance. The Project incorporates the best of global practices in the passport issuance system including the establishment of PSKs. Through this Project, the Government of India is aiming to deliver all Passport-related services to the citizens in a timely, transparent, manner and a more accessible and comfortable environment.

I am happy at the progress achieved so far in the implementation of this ambitious Project. In a short time, we moved from Pilot Project mode to commencement of nation-wide rollout of Passport Seva Kendras in June this year, with the joint efforts of the Ministry and the Service Provider - the Tata Consultancy Services.

I am satisfied with the progress of launch of Passport Seva Kendras - 30 out of 77 planned PSKs have been made operational. The States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, National Capital Region and West Bengal have been covered by the Project so far. Nine more Kendras will go live by the end of this month in Gujarat, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, thus crossing the halfway mark in our rollout journey. The Ministry will strive to accomplish the launch of all PSKs by March next year.

Here, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Tata Consultancy Services, the Service Provider and our partner, for their earnest efforts in speedy implementation of the Project.

I am privileged to dedicate today seven PSKs in Andhra Pradesh. We have thus fully implemented the Passport Seva Project in respect of Andhra Pradesh. I am also happy to announce that we have agreed in principle to open a mini-PSK at Bhimavaram, West Godavari district, and it would be launched shortly.

I am confident that the comprehensive overhaul of passport delivery system through the Passport Seva Project undertaken by us will help in bringing 'Public Services Closer Home' in Andhra Pradesh and in other States.

I would like to felicitate the people of Andhra Pradesh on this momentous occasion of launch of seven PSKs across the State. We also acknowledge the whole-hearted support that we have received from the Government and people of Andhra Pradesh in the timely execution of these transformative initiatives.

Thank you.