Lok Sabha Question No. 2608 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-01-03
Subject: Passport Application Procedures
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: ANTO  ANTONY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2608

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.01.2018

## PASSPORT APPLICATION PROCEDURES

## 2608.     SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has recently revised passport application procedures;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the number of passport seva kendras functioning at present in the country state-wise;
- (d) whether the Government has started a full-fledged passport seva kendra in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof including facilities available there?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) In 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, the Ministry has been providing quality service to the people from the Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) and Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) established with good amenities across the country in Public Private Partnership (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 State Bank of India (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/ POPSK, 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 re-engineered process through a single visit clearance.

(c) There are 92 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) ( Annexure-I ) and 59 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) ( Annexure-II ) functioning in the country as on 28 December, 2017.

(d) & (e) The Government has started a Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POSPK) at Pathanamthitta district of Kerala from 01 March, 2017. Applicants,  who   apply   for   their   passports   online   through   the   passport portal, can now schedule an appointment and then visit the POPSK at Pathanamthitta   to   complete   the   formalities   prior   to   the   issue   of   the passport.   The   photograph   and   the   biometrics   would   be   electronically captured at the POPSK for the issue of the passport.

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## ANNEXURE-I

## STATE-WISE LIST OF PASSPORT SEVA KENDRAS (PSKs)

| S. No.   | State/UT          |   No. of PSKs | Location of PSKs                                                                                                                                         |
|----------|-------------------|---------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh    |             4 | Vijayawada, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Bhimavaram                                                                                                          |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh |             1 | Itanagar                                                                                                                                                 |
| 3.       | Assam*            |             1 | Guwahati                                                                                                                                                 |
| 4.       | Bihar             |             2 | Patna, Darbhanga                                                                                                                                         |
| 5.       | Chandigarh UT**   |             1 | Chandigarh                                                                                                                                               |
| 6.       | Chhattisgarh      |             1 | Raipur                                                                                                                                                   |
| 7.       | Delhi NCT***      |             3 | Herald House, Shalimar Place, Bhikaji Cama Place                                                                                                         |
| 8.       | Goa               |             1 | Panaji                                                                                                                                                   |
| 9.       | Gujarat           |             5 | Ahmedabad I& II, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat.                                                                                                                |
| 10.      | Haryana           |             2 | Ambala, Gurgaon.                                                                                                                                         |
| 11.      | Himachal Pradesh  |             1 | Shimla                                                                                                                                                   |
| 12.      | Jammu &Kashmir    |             2 | Jammu, Srinagar                                                                                                                                          |
| 13.      | Jharkhand         |             1 | Ranchi                                                                                                                                                   |
| 14.      | Karnataka         |             5 | Bangalore I &II, Hubli, Mangalore, Kalaburagi.                                                                                                           |
| 15.      | Kerala            |            13 | Thiruvananthapuram,Thiruvananthapuram (Rural), Kollam, Cochin, Ernakulam Rural, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode I &II, Kannur I &II. |
| 16.      | Madhya Pradesh    |             2 | Bhopal, Indore                                                                                                                                           |
| 17.      | Maharashtra       |             8 | Mumbai I, II &III, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Solapur.                                                                                                 |
| 18.      | Manipur           |             1 | Imphal                                                                                                                                                   |
| 19.      | Meghalaya         |             1 | Shillong                                                                                                                                                 |
| 20.      | Mizoram           |             1 | Aizawl                                                                                                                                                   |
| 21.      | Nagaland          |             1 | Dimapur                                                                                                                                                  |
| 22.      | Odisha            |             1 | Bhubaneswar                                                                                                                                              |
| 23.      | Puducherry        |             1 | Puducherry                                                                                                                                               |
| 24.      | Punjab            |             5 | Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar I &II, Hoshiarpur.                                                                                                         |
| 25.      | Rajasthan         |             4 | Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sikar, Udaipur                                                                                                                          |
| 26.      | Sikkim            |             1 | Gangtok                                                                                                                                                  |
| 27.      | Tamil Nadu        |             8 | Chennai I, II &III, Trichy, Thanjavur, Madurai,Tirunelveli, Coimbatore,                                                                                  |
| 28.      | Telangana         |             5 | Hyderabad I, II &III, Nizamabad, Karimnagar                                                                                                              |
| 29.      | Tripura           |             1 | Agartala                                                                                                                                                 |
| 30.      | Uttar Pradesh     |             6 | Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Ghaziabad.                                                                                               |
| 31.      | Uttarakhand       |             1 | Dehradun                                                                                                                                                 |
| 32.      | West Bengal       |             2 | Kolkata, Berhampore.                                                                                                                                     |
|          | TOTAL             |            92 |                                                                                                                                                          |

*  RPO Guwahati covers  five other North-Eastern States also at present.
- **RPO Chandigarh covers parts of Punjab and Haryana.
- ***RPO Delhi covers parts of Haryana.
- @RPO Kolkata covers Sikkim and Tripura.

List of Functional POPSKs

|   S.No. | State/UT            | Locations        | Passport Office   |
|---------|---------------------|------------------|-------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh      | Kadappa          | Vishakhapatnam    |
|       2 | Andhra Pradesh      | Kurnool          | Vishakhapatnam    |
|       3 | Andhra Pradesh      | Nellore          | Vishakhapatnam    |
|       4 | Assam               | Silchar          | Guwahati          |
|       5 | Bihar               | Muzaffarpur      | Patna             |
|       6 | Bihar               | Purnea           | Patna             |
|       7 | Bihar               | Bhagalpur        | Patna             |
|       8 | Bihar               | Siwan            | Patna             |
|       9 | Bihar               | Bettiah          | Patna             |
|      10 | Chattisgarh         | Surguja          | Raipur            |
|      11 | Dadar &Nagar Haveli | Silvasa          | Mumbai            |
|      12 | Daman               | Daman            | Mumbai            |
|      13 | Gujarat             | Dahod            | Ahmedabad         |
|      14 | Gujarat             | Palanpur         | Ahmedabad         |
|      15 | Gujarat             | Bhuj             | Ahmedabad         |
|      16 | Haryana             | Karnal           | Chandigarh        |
|      17 | Haryana             | Hisar            | Chandigarh        |
|      18 | Haryana             | Faridabad        | Delhi             |
|      19 | Himachal Pradesh    | Palampur         | Shimla            |
|      20 | Himachal Pradesh    | Hamirpur         | Shimla            |
|      21 | Jammu &Kashmir      | Udhampur         | Jammu             |
|      22 | Jammu &Kashmir      | Leh              | Srinagar          |
|      23 | Jharkhand           | Jamshedpur       | Ranchi            |
|      24 | Jharkhand           | Deoghar          | Ranchi            |
|      25 | Karnataka           | Mysuru           | Bangalore         |
|      26 | Kerala              | Pathanamthitta   | Trivandrum        |
|      27 | Kerala              | Kasargod         | Kozhikode         |
|      28 | Lakshadweep         | Kavaratti        | Cochin            |
|      29 | Madhya Pradesh      | Vidisha          | Bhopal            |
|      30 | Madhya Pradesh      | Satna            | Bhopal            |
|      31 | Madhya Pradesh      | Jabalpur         | Bhopal            |
|      32 | Madhya Pradesh      | Gwalior          | Bhopal            |
|      33 | Maharastra          | Kolhapur         | Pune              |
|      34 | Maharastra          | Aurangabad       | Mumbai            |
|      35 | Maharastra          | Pimpri Chinchwad | Pune              |
|      36 | Odisha              | Rourkela         | Bhubaneshwar      |
|      37 | Odisha              | Sambalpur        | Bhubaneshwar      |
|      38 | Odisha              | Koraput          | Bhubaneshwar      |
|      39 | Punjab              | Bathinda         | Chandigarh        |
|      40 | Punjab              | Patiala          | Chandigarh        |
|      41 | Rajasthan           | Kota             | Jaipur            |
|      42 | Rajasthan           | Bikaner          | Jaipur            |
|      43 | Rajasthan           | Jhunjhunu        | Jaipur            |

Annexure-II

|   44 | Rajasthan     | Jaisalmer            | Jaipur     |
|------|---------------|----------------------|------------|
|   45 | Rajasthan     | Jhalawar             | Jaipur     |
|   46 | Tamil Nadu    | Salem                | Coimbatore |
|   47 | Tamil Nadu    | Vellore              | Chennai    |
|   48 | Telangana     | Mehbubnagar          | Hyderabad  |
|   49 | Telangana     | Warangal/ Hanamkonda | Hyderabad  |
|   50 | Uttar Pradesh | Jhansi               | Lucknow    |
|   51 | Uttar Pradesh | Pilibhit             | Bareilly   |
|   52 | Uttar Pradesh | Ghazipur             | Lucknow    |
|   53 | Uttar Pradesh | Ayodhya/ Faizabad    | Lucknow    |
|   54 | Uttar Pradesh | Allahabad            | Lucknow    |
|   55 | Uttar Pradesh | Deoria               | Lucknow    |
|   56 | West Bengal   | Asansol              | Kolkata    |
|   57 | West Bengal   | Raiganj              | Kolkata    |
|   58 | West Bengal   | Beadon Street        | Kolkata    |
|   59 | West Bengal   | Krishnanagar         | Kolkata    |

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