LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO-116
ANSWERED ON- 09/02/2024
PASSPORT SERVICE CENTRES
*116. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL
SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:
(a) the number of Passport Service Centres functioning in the country, State-wise including Bihar and Rajasthan;
(b) the number of applications for passports pending in these states along with the corrective measures taken by the Government to clear the same in time bound manner;
(c) whether the Government has any proposal to open morePassport Service Centres in these states and if so, the details thereof along with funds sanctioned;
(d) whether the Government has any proposal for faster Passport service to students; and
(e) if so, the details thereof; and
ANSWER
THE EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER
(DR. SUBRAHMANYAM JAISHANKAR)
(a) to (e) A statement is laid in the table of the House.
Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *116 for reply on 09.02.2024 regarding passport service centres.
(a to e): There are currently 527 Passport Service Centres functioning in the country including 93 Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) – attached as Annexure- I.
and 434 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) – attached as Annexure-II, under 37 Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) including Bihar and Rajasthan
The number of applications that are in various stages of processing, including Bihar and Rajasthan are attached as Annexure-III. To clear the huge volume of passport applications at various stages of processing, government augmented officials to deal with the increasing demand. Officials have also been working on Saturdays to process these applications.
Ministry in association with Department of Posts (DoP) had decided in January 2017 to open Seva kendras at the Head Post Offices (HPO)/ Post Offices (PO) in the country called Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) in each Lok Sabha Constituency(LSC) where there is no PSK or a POPSK. Presently, 37 LSCs in Bihar have PSK/POPSK. All the LSCs in Rajasthan have a PSKs/POPSKs.
Expenditure on Passport Service Centres (kendras) is met from the budgetary grant of the MEA and no separate funds are allocated for it.
For faster passport services, students can apply for passports under the Tatkaal category on payment of requisite fees and fulfilling the required documents.
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