The achievement has made the RPO Hyderabad, the top passport office of the 37 RPOs in the country.
The Regional Passport Office, Hyderabad, issued a record 6.95 lakh passports in the calendar year 2014.
This achievement has made the RPO Hyderabad, the top passport office of the 37 RPOs in the country.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, RPO Ashwini Sattaru informed that the RPO received nearly 7.17 lakh applications in the year 2014. On an average 4,000 applications were received daily, of which nearly 60% were fresh applications.
She informed that the RPO had organised 30 Passports Melas in 2014. The biggest mela was held at NIT Warangal, where almost 1,000 students applied for their passports. Further, 16 Passports Camps were organised at different places.
There was a 13% increase in the number of passports issued in 2014 compared to the previous year. In 2013, 6.32 lakh passports were issued as against the 6.56 lakh applications.
Sattaru said that the passport applications from Mahabubnagar and Medak in Telangana were issued in a record six-day period, while applications from Adilabad were cleared in nine days. In Andhra Pradesh, passports were issued in just six days for applicants of Krishna, while Kadapa and Tirupati stood second with a seven-day fulfillment period.
She said that all the applicants whose passports were pending may directly approach the RPO till February 28. From March 1st onwards, they will need to visit only after taking an appointment.
The RPO informed that while the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate was sending the police verification reports within 21 days, the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate was completing the task in 13 days.
Sattaru also informed that eight districts of Andhra Pradesh which are currently under the jurisdiction of the Hyderabad RPO would be transferred to the Visakhapatnam Passport Office in the next few months. This includes the transfer of the Passport Seva Kendras in Vijayawada and Tirupati as well. Applicants from Anantapur, Chittoor, YSR Kadapa, Kurnool, Nellore, Vijayawada, Guntur and Prakasam would need to approach the passport office in Visakhapatnam for all queries and passport related issues/services.
She also said that from 24 November 2015, all hand-written and non-machine readable passports would become invalid. All passports holders who had been issued handwritten passports with a 20-year validity and those who had non-MRP are required to renew to machine-readable passports. As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) norms, all hand-written and non-MR Passports across the world would become invalid after this date.
Sattaru also informed that all passport holders should have a minimum validity of six months left on their passports for applying for any visa. All passport holders should therefore carefully check the validity of their passports and apply for re-issue of their passports if needed. The universal practice in vogue now, she said, was, "Once your passport crosses the nine-year mark, it is time to get a new passport."
The RPO also urged the Haj pilgrims of 2015 to apply for passports well in advance to avoid the last-minute rush and tension. She said that her office would ensure smooth facilitation at PSKs and early issuance of passports to all Haj pilgrims.
Assistant Passport Officer L Madan Kumar Reddy was also present during the press conference. (INN)