Lok Sabha Question No. 2624 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-01-03
Subject: Shortage of Passport Offices in UP
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: NEELAM SONKER

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2624

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.01.2018

## SHORTAGE OF PASSPORT OFFICES IN UP

## † 2624.     SHRIMATI NEELAM SONKER:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number  of passport offices in India and the number of employees working therein, State-wise;
- (b) whether the people of Uttar Pradesh face serious difficulties due to shortage of passport offices in Uttar Pradesh (UP);
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether   the   Government   has   taken   any   remedial   measures   to   set   up regional passport offices at district level; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

- (a)        The total number of Passport Offices in India as on 28 December, 2017 is 37 and the number of employees working therein is 2027 ( Annexure-I) . Besides the Passport Offices, 92 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) and 59 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POSPK) are functional in the country.
- (b) & (c) There are three Passport Offices in Uttar Pradesh (UP) at Bareilly, Ghaziabad and Lucknow. There are six Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in UP at Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi. There are six Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) functioning at Allahabad, Ayodhya/Faizabad, Deoria, Ghazipur, Jhansi and Pilibhit as on 28 December, 2017. These PSK and POPSK function as extended arms of the Passport Offices for providing passport related services to the people of Uttar Pradesh. There are plans to open twenty five more POPSK in Uttar Pradesh in the near future.
- (d) & (e) 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, including Uttar Pradesh, in such a manner that there is a Passport Seva Kendra available within a radius of approximately 50 km.

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## LIST OF PASSPORT OFFICES

| S. No.   | State/UT         | Location of Passport Office                        | Number of Employees working therein   |
|----------|------------------|----------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh   | Visakhapatnam Vijayawada                           | 57                                    |
| 2.       | Assam*           | Guwahati*                                          | 43                                    |
| 3.       | Bihar            | Patna                                              | 63                                    |
| 4.       | Chandigarh UT**  | Chandigarh                                         | 80                                    |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh     | Raipur                                             | 25                                    |
| 6.       | Delhi NCT***     | Delhi                                              | 171                                   |
| 7.       | Goa              | Panaji                                             | 26                                    |
| 8.       | Gujarat          | Ahmedabad, Surat.                                  | 122                                   |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh | Shimla                                             | 14                                    |
| 10.      | Jammu &Kashmir   | Jammu, Srinagar                                    | 43                                    |
| 11.      | Jharkhand        | Ranchi                                             | 25                                    |
| 12.      | Karnataka        | Bangalore                                          | 72                                    |
| 13.      | Kerala           | Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Kozhikode, Malappuram. | 191                                   |
| 14.      | Madhya Pradesh   | Bhopal                                             | 50                                    |
| 15.      | Maharashtra      | Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur.                              | 185                                   |
| 16.      | Odisha           | Bhubaneswar                                        | 22                                    |
| 17.      | Punjab           | Amritsar, Jalandhar.                               | 93                                    |
| 18.      | Rajasthan        | Jaipur                                             | 64                                    |
| 19.      | Tamil Nadu       | Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore.              | 218                                   |
| 20.      | Telangana        | Hyderabad                                          | 116                                   |
| 21.      | Uttar Pradesh    | Lucknow, Bareilly, Ghaziabad.                      | 220                                   |
| 22.      | Uttarakhand      | Dehradun                                           | 23                                    |
| 23.      | West Bengal@     | Kolkata                                            | 104                                   |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL            | 37 2027                                            | 37 2027                               |

@RPO Kolkata covers Sikkim and Tripura.

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