Lok Sabha Question No. 661 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-19
Subject: Opening of New Passport Seva Kendras
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: SUDHEER GUPTA, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR, ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN, KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, T. RADHAKRISHNAN, RANGASWAMY DHRUVANARAYANA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.661 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.07.2017

## OPENING OF NEW PASSPORT SEVA KENDRAS

## 661.   SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN:

KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI R. DHRUVA NARAYANA:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the total  number  of Passport  Seva  Kendras  (PSKs)/Passport Offices working in the country at present, State-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has prepared a plan to open at least one passport  centre  within  a  radius  of  50  km  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  announced  the  launch  of  149  new Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) in the second phase recently;
- (d) if  so, the details thereof and the time by which they are likely to be set up, State/UT-wise; and
- (e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to provide quality service to the people in these PSKs?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI M. J. AKBAR)

- (a) There  are  91  Passport  Seva  Kendras  (PSK)  and  55  Post  Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) working as on 15 July, 2017.  There are 38 Passport Offices functioning in the country.  List of  Passport Offices is at Annexure-I,  list of Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) is at Annexure-II, list of POPSK functional as on 15 July, 2017 is at Annexure-III and list of POPSK announced in Phase-I and not yet functional is at Annexure-IV.

(b) There will be 93 PSK and 235 POPSK after the operationalisation of  all  the  POPSK announced in Phases I and II and the PSK at Siliguri (West Bengal) and Solapur (Maharashtra) following which there will be 328  Passport  Seva  Kendras  in  the  country.  The  Ministry  of  External Affairs  and  the  Department  of  Posts  (DOP)  have  decided  to  utilize  the Head Post Offices (HPO) in the various States as Post Office Passport Seva  Kendra  (POPSK)  for  delivering  passport  related  services  to  the citizens of the country. The Government intends to open POPSK in the HPO  in  the  country  in  such  a  manner  that  there  is  a  Passport  Seva Kendra available within a radius of 50 km of every HPO. (c) & (d) Yes.  The Government has announced on 17 June, 2017 the opening  of  149  new  Post  Office  Passport  Seva  Kendras  (POPSK)  in Phase-II.  The list is at Annexure-V.  The Ministry intends to complete the requisite formalities like preparation of sites, procurement of IT and non-IT equipment for setting up of these POPSK at the earliest. (e)   In  the  recent  years,  the Ministry  has made many quantitative and qualitative  improvements  in  the  delivery  of  passport  services  in  the country.  With  the  implementation  of  the  Passport  Seva  Project  in partnership  with  its  Service  Provider  M/s  TCS,  the  Ministry  has  been providing quality service to the people from the Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) established with best in class amenities across the country in PPP mode. Under this system, the applicants are required to apply for their passports online, upload relevant documents, make the payment online through  debit/credit  card  or  SBI  net-banking/SBI  Challan,  schedule  an appointment and then visit the designated Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). A user friendly portal has been made available. When an applicant visits the PSK, an Electronic Queue Management System (EQMS) working on the principle of First-in First-out is available at all PSKs to monitor the flow of applicants. The  applicants  can track the status of their applications  themselves  through  portal  and  also  SMS  services.  In  the current system of passport issuance, there is no manual intervention at any stage, and the complete  process  is digitally flown with reengineered process through a single visit clearance.

- *****

## STATE/UT-WISE   LIST OF PASSPORT OFFICES

| S. No.   | State/UT           | Location of Passport Offices                      |
|----------|--------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh     | Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada                         |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh* | -                                                 |
| 3.       | Assam*             | Guwahati*                                         |
| 4.       | Bihar              | Patna                                             |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh       | Raipur                                            |
| 6.       | Goa                | Panaji                                            |
| 7.       | Gujarat            | Ahmedabad+, Surat.                                |
| 8.       | Haryana            | --                                                |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh   | Shimla                                            |
| 10.      | Jammu &Kashmir     | Jammu, Srinagar                                   |
| 11.      | Jharkhand          | Ranchi                                            |
| 12.      | Karnataka          | Bangalore                                         |
| 13.      | Kerala             | Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin,Kozhikode, Malappuram. |
| 14.      | Madhya Pradesh     | Bhopal                                            |
| 15.      | Maharashtra        | Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane.                      |
| 16.      | Manipur*           | -                                                 |
| 17.      | Meghalaya*         | -                                                 |
| 18.      | Mizoram*           | -                                                 |
| 19.      | Nagaland*          | -                                                 |
| 20.      | Odisha             | Bhubaneswar                                       |
| 21.      | Punjab             | Amritsar, Jalandhar.                              |
| 22.      | Rajasthan          | Jaipur                                            |
| 23.      | Sikkim@            | -                                                 |
| 24.      | Tamil Nadu         | Chennai,Trichy,Madurai, Coimbatore.               |
| 25.      | Telangana          | Hyderabad                                         |
| 26.      | Tripura@           | -                                                 |
| 27.      | Uttar Pradesh      | Lucknow,Bareilly, Ghaziabad.                      |
| 28.      | Uttarakhand        | Dehradun                                          |
| 29.      | West Bengal@       | Kolkata                                           |
| 30.      | Chandigarh UT**    | Chandigarh                                        |
| 31.      | Delhi NCT***       | Delhi                                             |
|          | Total              | 38                                                |

N.B.: RPO, Mumbai has jurisdiction over Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli ;

+RPO Ahmedabad has jurisdiction over Diu;

RPO Chennai has jurisdiction over Puducherry

RPO Cochin has jurisdiction over Lakshadweep Islands.

Andaman & Nicobar Administration also acts as Passport Issuing Authority and liaises  with RPO Kolkata.

*****

List of  Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs)

## ANNEXURE-II

| Sl.No.   | State/UT          | Passport Office            |   Number of PSKs |
|----------|-------------------|----------------------------|------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada |                3 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh | Guwahati                   |                1 |
| 3        | Assam             | Guwahati                   |                1 |
| 4        | Bihar             | Patna                      |                2 |
| 5        | Chandigarh(UT)    | Chandigarh                 |                2 |
| 6        | Chhattisgarh      | Raipur                     |                1 |
| 7        | Delhi (NCT)       | Delhi                      |                4 |
| 8        | Goa               | Panaji                     |                1 |
| 9        | Gujarat           | Ahmedabad                  |                4 |
|          |                   | Surat                      |                1 |
| 10       | Haryana           | Chandigarh                 |                1 |
| 11       | Himachal Pradesh  | Shimla                     |                1 |
|          | Jammu &Kashmir    | Jammu                      |                1 |
| 12       |                   | Srinagar                   |                1 |
| 13       | Jharkhand         | Ranchi                     |                1 |
| 14       | Karnataka         | Bangalore                  |                5 |
| 15       | Kerala            | Thiruvananthapuram         |                3 |
| 15       | Kerala            | Cochin                     |                5 |
| 15       | Kerala            | Kozhikode                  |                4 |
| 15       | Kerala            | Malappuram                 |                1 |
| 16       | Madhya Pradesh    | Bhopal                     |                2 |
| 17       | Maharashtra       | Mumbai                     |                3 |
| 17       | Maharashtra       | Pune                       |                1 |
| 17       | Maharashtra       | Nagpur                     |                1 |
| 17       | Maharashtra       | Thane                      |                2 |
| 18       | Manipur           | Guwahati                   |                1 |
| 19       | Mizoram           | Guwahati                   |                1 |
| 20       | Meghalaya         | Guwahati                   |                1 |
| 21       | Nagaland          | Guwahati                   |                1 |
| 22       | Odisha            | Bhubaneswar                |                1 |
| 23       | Punjab            | Amritsar                   |                1 |
| 23       | Punjab            | Jalandhar                  |                3 |
| 24       | Puducherry        | Chennai                    |                1 |
| 25       | Rajasthan         | Jaipur                     |                4 |
| 26       | Sikkim            | Kolkata                    |                1 |
| 27       | Tamilnadu         | Chennai                    |                3 |
| 27       | Tamilnadu         | Trichy                     |                2 |
| 27       | Tamilnadu         | Madurai                    |                2 |
| 27       | Tamilnadu         | Coimbatore                 |                1 |
| 28       | Telangana         | Hyderabad                  |                6 |
| 29       | Tripura           | Kolkata                    |                1 |
| 30       | Uttar Pradesh     | Lucknow                    |                4 |
| 30       | Uttar Pradesh     | Bareilly                   |                1 |
| 30       | Uttar Pradesh     | Ghaziabad                  |                1 |
| 31       | Uttarakhand       | Dehradun                   |                1 |
| 32       | West Bengal       | Kolkata                    |                2 |
| 32       | West Bengal       | Total                      |               91 |

|   S.No. | State/UT            | Locations      | S.No.   | State/UT       | Locations         |
|---------|---------------------|----------------|---------|----------------|-------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh      | Kadappa        | 29      | Madhya Pradesh | Satna             |
|       2 | Andhra Pradesh      | Kurnool        | 30      | Madhya Pradesh | Jabalpur          |
|       3 | Andhra Pradesh      | Nellore        | 31      | Madhya Pradesh | Gwalior           |
|       4 | Assam               | Silchar        | 32      | Maharastra     | Kolhapur          |
|       5 | Bihar               | Muzaffarpur    | 33      | Maharastra     | Aurangabad        |
|       6 | Bihar               | Purnea         | 34      | Maharastra     | Pimpri Chinchwad  |
|       7 | Bihar               | Bhagalpur      | 35      | Odisha         | Rourkela          |
|       8 | Bihar               | Siwan          | 36      | Odisha         | Sambalpur         |
|       9 | Bihar               | Bettiah        | 37      | Odisha         | Koraput           |
|      10 | Chattisgarh         | Surguja        | 38      | Rajasthan      | Kota              |
|      11 | Dadar &Nagar Haveli | Silvasa        | 39      | Rajasthan      | Bikaner           |
|      12 | Daman               | Daman          | 40      | Rajasthan      | Jhunjhunu         |
|      13 | Gujarat             | Dahod          | 41      | Rajasthan      | Jaisalmer         |
|      14 | Gujarat             | Palanpur       | 42      | Rajasthan      | Jhalawar          |
|      15 | Gujarat             | Bhuj           | 43      | Tamil Nadu     | Salem             |
|      16 | Haryana             | Karnal         | 44      | Tamil Nadu     | Vellore           |
|      17 | Haryana             | Hisar          | 45      | Telangana      | Mehbubnagar       |
|      18 | Haryana             | Faridabad      | 46      | Telangana      | Warangal          |
|      19 | Himachal Pradesh    | Palampur       | 47      | Uttar Pradesh  | Jhansi            |
|      20 | Himachal Pradesh    | Hamirpur       | 48      | Uttar Pradesh  | Pilibhit          |
|      21 | Jammu& Kashmir      | Udhampur       | 49      | Uttar Pradesh  | Ghazipur          |
|      22 | Jharkhand           | Jamshedpur     | 50      | Uttar Pradesh  | Ayodhya/ Faizabad |
|      23 | Jharkhand           | Deoghar        | 51      | Uttar Pradesh  | Allahabad         |
|      24 | Karnataka           | Mysuru         | 52      | West Bengal    | Asansol           |
|      25 | Kerala              | Pathanamthitta | 53      | West Bengal    | Raiganj           |
|      26 | Kerala              | Kasargod       | 54      | West Bengal    | Beadon            |
|      27 | Lakshadweep         | Kavaratti      | 55      | West Bengal    | Krishnanagar      |
|      28 | Madhya Pradesh      | Vidisha        |         |                |                   |

*****

ANNEXURE-IV

| List of POPSK of Phase-I not yet functional   | List of POPSK of Phase-I not yet functional   | List of POPSK of Phase-I not yet functional   |
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
| S.No.                                         | State/UT                                      | Locations                                     |
| 1                                             | Bihar                                         | Gopalganj                                     |
| 2                                             | Delhi                                         | Janak Puri                                    |
| 3                                             | Delhi                                         | Nehru Place                                   |
| 4                                             | Delhi                                         | North West DelhI                              |
| 5                                             | Delhi                                         | Patparganj                                    |
| 6                                             | Delhi                                         | Yamuna Vihar                                  |
| 7                                             | Goa                                           | South Goa                                     |
| 8                                             | In place of Diu                               | Veraval                                       |
| 9                                             | Jammu &Kashmir                                | Leh                                           |
| 10                                            | Jharkhand                                     | Dhanbad                                       |
| 11                                            | Karnataka                                     | Belagavi                                      |
| 12                                            | Karnataka                                     | Devangere                                     |
| 13                                            | Karnataka                                     | Hassan                                        |
| 14                                            | Maharastra                                    | Beed                                          |
| 15                                            | Maharastra                                    | Ghatkopar                                     |
| 16                                            | Maharastra                                    | Jalgaon                                       |
| 17                                            | Maharastra                                    | Mumbai North Central                          |
| 18                                            | Maharastra                                    | Mumbai South Central                          |
| 19                                            | Punjab                                        | Bathinda                                      |
| 20                                            | Punjab                                        | Gurdaspur                                     |
| 21                                            | Punjab                                        | Patiala                                       |
| 22                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | Agra                                          |
| 23                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | Bijnaur                                       |
| 24                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | GautamBudh Nagar                              |
| 25                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | Mathura                                       |
| 26                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | Meerut                                        |
| 27                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | Sultanpur                                     |
| 28                                            | Uttar Pradesh                                 | Deoria                                        |
| 29                                            | Uttarakhand                                   | Almora                                        |
| 30                                            | Uttarakhand                                   | Haldwani                                      |
| 31                                            | Uttarakhand                                   | Nainital                                      |

*****

## STATE-WISE LIST OF POPSK - PHASE II

|   S.No. | State/UT          | Place                                                                                                     |   Total number of POPSK to be opened Phase II |
|---------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh    | Anantpur, Chitoor, Guntur, Krishna, Ongole, Rajamundry, Srikakulam                                        |                                             7 |
|       2 | Arunachal Pradesh | Changlang, Tirap                                                                                          |                                             2 |
|       3 | Assam             | Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, Kokrajhar, Mangaldoi, North Lakhim Pur, Sonitpur, Tinsukia.   |                                             9 |
|       4 | Bihar             | Begusarai, Buxar, East Champaran, Gaya, Madhubani, Samastipur, Supaul, Munger, Navada.                    |                                             9 |
|       5 | Chattisgarh       | Durg, Rajnandgaon                                                                                         |                                             2 |
|       6 | Gujarat           | Anand, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagarh, Kheda, Navsari, Valsad.                                    |                                             8 |
|       7 | Haryana           | Bhiwani, Kaithal, Narnaul, Panipat, Rohtak, Sonipat, Yamunanagar.                                         |                                             7 |
|       8 | Himachal Pradesh  | Kangra, Mandi, Una.                                                                                       |                                             3 |
|       9 | J&K               | Anantnag, Baramula, Kathua.                                                                               |                                             3 |
|      10 | Jharkhand         | Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Medininagar.                                                                          |                                             3 |
|      11 | Karnataka         | Bellary, Bidar, Raichur, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Udipi, Vijayapur.                                          |                                             7 |
|      12 | Kerala            | Chengannur, Idukki                                                                                        |                                             2 |
|      13 | Madhya Pradesh    | Balaghat, Chhindwara, Dewas, Hoshangabad, Sehore, Sidhi, Ujjain, Betul, Shivni.                           |                                             9 |
|      14 | Maharashtra       | Ahmednagar, Jalna, Latur, Pandharpur, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Wardha, Navi Mumbai, Dombivali, Panvel, Nanded. |                                            11 |
|      15 | Meghalaya         | Baghmara, Tura                                                                                            |                                             2 |
|      16 | Odisha            | Balasore, Berhampur(Ganjam), Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi).                                                    |                                             3 |
|      17 | Punjab            | Moga,Sangrur, Tarn Taran, SBS Nagar (Nawan Shahar), Phagwara                                              |                                             5 |
|      18 | Puducherry        | Karaikal                                                                                                  |                                             1 |

| 19   | Rajasthan     | Ajmer, Churu, Dungarpur, Hanumangarh, Karauli-Dhaulpur, Nagaur, Sriganganagar, Alwar, Chittorgarh, Banswara, Pali.                                                                |   11 |
|------|---------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------|
| 20   | Tamilnadu     | Cuddalore, Dindigul, Namakkal, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tiruppur, Viluppuram, Virudhunagar, Kanyakumari(N).                                            |   11 |
| 21   | Telangana     | Adilabad, Medak, Khammam, Siddipet, Nalgonda.,                                                                                                                                    |    5 |
| 22   | Uttarakhand   | Pauri, Roorkee, Rudrapur.                                                                                                                                                         |    3 |
| 23   | Uttar Pradesh | Aligarh, Amethi, Azamgarh, Bahraich, Ballia, Balrampur, Barabanki, Basti, Gonda, Jaunpur, Kushinagar, Mau, Sitapur, Muradabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Rampur, Saharanpur, Unnao. |   19 |
| 24   | West Bengal   | Bardhman, Barrackpore, Darjeeling, Malda.                                                                                                                                         |    4 |
| 25   | Delhi         | Krishna Nagar, Lodhi Road, Saket                                                                                                                                                  |    3 |
|      |               | Total                                                                                                                                                                             |  149 |

*****