Srinagar, Dec 30 (KNS): Passport Office Srinagar on Friday said that it has crossed figure of three lakh (3, 00,000) passport services since 2012 (On-line processing was started from the said year), around sixty thousands (60,000) passport services per year.
In a statement issued to KNS, “Around 58500 passports services were rendered during 2016 i.e. 250 per day and around 55700 number of applications were processed. Despite abnormal situation/irregular internet facility and dislocation of traffic during 2016, this office made all efforts to compensate for the loss of processing days and conducted Passport Camps/Melas on off days.”
The officials through a statement said that three Passport Melas and six Passport Camps were held during the year besides nine Passport Adalats were held to review the pending/objection - related cases. “Off-station Passport camps were held at Sopore, Manigam Ganderbal. Holding of camps at other locations in the valley, however, did not materialize during the year and would be held in the year 2017.”
However, Passport Camp will be held at Haj House, Bemina Srinagar on 7th January, 2017.
They said that Passport Camps were also held at Leh & Kargil catering to the needs of residents of far-off areas. “Passport Office has had been taking extra measures to facilitate maximum numbers of Haj aspirants which is corroborated by the number of applicants from Kashmir zone having submitted applications for Haj 2016, 30404 applications submitted before Haj Committee,” officials said.
They said that despite odds, Passport Office Srinagar in coordination with concerned departments ensured hassle-free crossing at Line of Control (LOC) during the year. “Crossing at LOC is allowed against a permit as a Confidence Building Measure (CBM),” the officials said.
Officials said that during the year, numbers of measures were taken for simplification of application processing which inter-alia include, accepting of self attested copies of requisite documents.
1. Waiver from production of original certificates for students against certificates from the educational institutions where the original documents have been retained.
2. Acceptance of verification certificates for Tatkal without any jurisdiction of verifying certificates issuing authorities.
3. Exemption to orphan/abandoned children born after 26/01/1989 from the mandatory requirements of submission of birth certificate.
4. Acceptance of registered rent agreements as a valid document for the proof of address in respect of tenants.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
5. Acceptance of Photo Passbooks of all the Banks (authorized by RBI) as proof of residence.
6. Furnishing of prior information letter (Annexure N) in place of NOC/Identity Certificate in respect of Govt. Employees.
7. Non requirement of newspaper clipping in cases of simple correction in names.
8. Relaxation in processing of applications of minors.
9. Acceptance of e-Aadhar as proof of address & Proof of photo identity.
10. Acceptance of educational documents/ certificates issued by the Urdu Education Board as the valid documents particularly for Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) facility and Date of Birth proof.
11. Acceptance of digitally signed marriage certificates as the proof of marriage for passports.
12. Citizen Charter.

Passport Office also implemented recent simplification measures from 26/12/2016. This has eased the passport application processing particularly with regard to Date of Birth and furnishing of affidavits.
Passport Office also issued Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) to the passport holders being in possession of hand written passports (Non Machine Readable Passport) as handwritten passport holders or those passports with endorsements in the passports are no more entertained at airports in view of guidelines from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for acquiring machine readable passports.
To safeguard the applicants from the exploitation by touts and undesirable elements, it is to emphasize that the Ministry of External Affairs has not authorized any agent or agency with regard to processing of passport applications. Under the Passport Seva, the Ministry has made it mandatory to complete the entire form filling process online, including payment of applicable fee and scheduling of appointment for seeking Passport related services. The Ministry of External affairs along with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited has launched Passport related services through vast network of over one lakh Common Service centers(CSCs) across rural hinterland. The CSCs would facilitate filling and uploading of Passport application form, payment of applicable fee (through debit/credit card or through SBI internet banking/Challan mode) and scheduling of appointment for the visit to the Passport Seva Kendra(PSK) at nominal charge not exceeding Rs 100/- . In this regard, CSC/VLEs can be tracked through the online portal www.passportindia.gov.in. (KNS)