Lok Sabha Question No. 2193 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-15
Subject: Passport Office in Deoghar and Vijayawada
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: NISHIKANT  DUBEY, Y. S. AVINASH REDDY, RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2193 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.03.2017

## PASSPORT OFFICE IN DEOGHAR AND VIJAYAWADA

2193.        SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY:

SHRI Y.S. AVINASH REDDY: SHRI RAVINDRAKUMAR PANDEY:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government has received proposals from various States to establish passport offices including Deoghar (Jharkhand) and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh;
- (b) if so, the response of the Government thereto; and
- (c) the  timeline  to  establish  the  passport  offices  at  the  above places?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The Government has received requests from time to time from Members of Parliament,  Members  of the  Legislative  Assemblies  of States,  other  elected  representatives  and  prominent  public  figures for  opening  of  Passport  Offices  and  Passport  Seva  Kendras  in various States including at Deoghar in Jharkhand and at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.
- (b) In response to these requests and in order to extend passport services to our citizens on a larger scale and to ensure wider area coverage,the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 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 pilot projects for this joint venture between MEA and DOP was inaugurated  on  25  January,  2017  at  the  Post  Offices  at  Mysuru  in Karnataka and at Dahod in Gujarat. The POPSK at these two places

have  been  running  successfully  since  their  inauguration.  With  the successful operationalization of these two pilot projects, the Government  has  now  decided  to  scale  up  this  programme  by opening 64 more POPSKs including at Deoghar in Jharkhand, as per the list attached at Annexure. (c) Out  of  the  64  POPSK  at  Annexure,  ten  POPSKs  at  Asansol, Kavaratti,  Kota,  Muzaffarpur,  Pathanamthitta,  Raiganj,  Rourkela, Salem, Udhampur and Vidisha have since been inaugurated taking the  total  number  of  POPSKs  as  on  date  to  twelve.  There is  a  PSK already  existing  at  Vijayawada.  Both  MEA  and  DOP  are  working closely for the early commencement of passport related services at the remaining 54 POPSK.

- ******

## ANNEXURE

|   S.N. | Locations        | State               |   S.N. | Locations            | State          |
|--------|------------------|---------------------|--------|----------------------|----------------|
|      1 | Kurnool          | Andhra Pradesh      |     33 | Gulbarga             | Karnataka      |
|      2 | Kadappa          | Andhra Pradesh      |     34 | Pathanamthitta       | Kerala         |
|      3 | Silchar          | Assam               |     35 | Kasargod             | Kerala         |
|      4 | Purnia           | Bihar               |     36 | Kavaratti            | Lakshadweep    |
|      5 | Gopalganj        | Bihar               |     37 | Gwalior              | Madhya Pradesh |
|      6 | Muzaffarpur      | Bihar               |     38 | Satna                | Madhya Pradesh |
|      7 | Bhagalpur        | Bihar               |     39 | Jabalpur             | Madhya Pradesh |
|      8 | Siwan            | Bihar               |     40 | Vidisha              | Madhya Pradesh |
|      9 | Surguja          | Chhattisgarh        |     41 | Aurangabad           | Maharashtra    |
|     10 | Daman            | Daman               |     42 | Beed                 | Maharashtra    |
|     11 | Diu              | Diu                 |     43 | Ghatkopar            | Maharashtra    |
|     12 | Silvasa          | Dadra &Nagar Haveli |     44 | Mumbai North Central | Maharashtra    |
|     13 | East Delhi       | Delhi               |     45 | Mumbai South Central | Maharashtra    |
|     14 | Noth East Delhi  | Delhi               |     46 | Jalgaon              | Maharashtra    |
|     15 | North West Delhi | Delhi               |     47 | Kolhapur             | Maharashtra    |
|     16 | South Delhi      | Delhi               |     48 | Pimpri Chinchwad     | Maharashtra    |
|     17 | West Delhi       | Delhi               |     49 | Rourkela             | Odisha         |
|     18 | Bhuj             | Gujarat             |     50 | Sambalpur            | Odisha         |
|     19 | Palanpur         | Gujarat             |     51 | Koraput              | Odisha         |
|     20 | Hisar            | Haryana             |     52 | Kota                 | Rajasthan      |
|     21 | Karnal           | Haryana             |     53 | Jaisalmer            | Rajasthan      |
|     22 | Faridabad        | Haryana             |     54 | Jhunjhunu            | Rajasthan      |
|     23 | Palampur         | Himachal Pradesh    |     55 | Bikaner              | Rajasthan      |
|     24 | Hamirpur         | Himachal Pradesh    |     56 | Jhalawar             | Rajasthan      |
|     25 | Leh              | J&K                 |     57 | Salem                | Tamil Nadu     |
|     26 | Udhampur         | J&K                 |     58 | Vellore              | Tamil Nadu     |
|     27 | Jamshedpur       | Jharkhand           |     59 | Mehbubnagar          | Telangana      |
|     28 | Dhanbad          | Jharkhand           |     60 | Warangal             | Telangana      |
|     29 | Deoghar          | Jharkhand           |     61 | North Kolkata        | West Bengal    |
|     30 | Belgaum          | Karnataka           |     62 | Asansol              | West Bengal    |
|     31 | Devangere        | Karnataka           |     63 | Nadia                | West Bengal    |
|     32 | Hassan           | Karnataka           |     64 | Raiganj              | West Bengal    |

*****