The Secretary (Consular and Diaspora) of the Ministry of External Affairs said that the electronic passports embedded with the chip for full-proof security following the norms of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAI) are expected to be launched by the end of the year or early next year. Chances are. Ausaf Saeed.
Mr Sayeed rejected the notion about e-passports replacing old passports and said that getting them was voluntary. The chip will carry the details of the passport holder in electronic form and there is every possibility of eliminating fake passports.
He was talking to reporters here along with Chief Passport Officer T. Armstrong Changsan, Guardian of Migrants General Bramha Kumar, Regional Passport Officer-Hyderabad Dasari Balaiya, RPO Visakhapatnam Vishwanjali Gaikwad and RPO Vijayawada DSS Srinivasa Rao.
Mr Sayeed said that the RPO has tried its best to clear the huge backlog of passport applications post COVID-19 through optimum utilization of human resource. Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) became fully functional post the Covid break and demand picked up after the airspace opened for travel. Despite the huge rush, applications are being approved within five days under the Tatkal scheme and within two to three weeks in the regular one.
He said RPO Hyderabad issued 3.43 lakh passports from January to July 2022. It issued 4,28,246 passports in the year 2021. Services will be expanded as the government plans to have post office PSKs in each parliamentary constituency.
Stating that the interests of the applicants are of paramount importance, he announced special measures to meet the demand for Police Clearance Certificate (PCC). Every Saturday people with PCC problem can directly come to RPO without any appointment and their problems will be solved. “RPO Hyderabad will issue guidelines soon,” he said.
appointment dates
RPO Hyderabad Mr Balaiya said that those who want to extend their appointment dates in emergency cases can directly visit the office on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday with proof of urgency so that their cases can be taken up on priority basis. . “We are dealing with and resolving hundreds of such cases every week.
Earlier, as part of the outreach programme, the team met Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and DGP M. Mahender Reddy and reviewed matters related to mobility and migration, NRI and migrant affairs, employment opportunities for Telangana employees, skilling and Upskilling of potential job seekers, ease of emigration services for blue-collar workers from the state.
Mr. Sayeed also launched a mobile application named ‘T-Migration App’, which has been developed by the Government of Telangana for migrants from the state.