Lok Sabha Question No. 740 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-29
Subject: Passport Sewa Kendras (PSKs)
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Dr. Manna Lal Rawat, Shri Brijmohan Agrawal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 740

ANSWERED ON- 29/11/2024

PASSPORT SEWA KENDRAS (PSKs)

†740. DR. MANNA LAL RAWAT

## SHRI BRIJMOHAN AGRAWAL

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-

(a) the number of Passport Sewa Kendras (PSKs) opened/functioning in the country during the years 2014-24 including the funds allocated for the same, year-wise and State-wise including Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan;

- (b) the number of passport applications pending during the said period across the country, State-wise including Rajasthan;
- (c) the corrective measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to clear the applications in a timebound manner;

(d) whether the Government has any proposal to open more Passport Sewa Kendras in Chhattisgarh particularly in Raipur Lok Sabha constituency and if so, the details thereof alongwith the funds allocated therefor;

- (e) whether the Government has any proposal to upgrade the PSK operating in Udaipur to a Regional Passport Office and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) whether the Government has any proposal of issuing passports on urgent basis for the convenience of  students and if  so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) There are total 93 Passport Sewa Kendras (PSKs) and 442 Post Office Passport Sewa Kendras (POPSKs) opened/functional in India. The setting up of PSKs/POPSKs State-wise and year-wise is given in Annexure I.   Budget Estimates allocated for 2024-25 in respect of passport related activities is 924.13 Crores.   This includes service charges   to   be   paid   to   TCS,   Department   of   Posts,   State/UT Governments, STC, ISP Nashik and expenditure related to 37 RPOs.

- (b) Pendency in issuance of Passports is maintained RPO wise.  List of Pendency is attached at Annexure-II.
- (c)   Due   to   the   rise   in   demand,   the   Ministry   has   been   working continuously to speed up passport issuance and meet high or seasonal demand for Passport by taking various steps including increasing the

number   of   daily   appointments   and   organising   special   drives   on weekends.  Staff from Ministry and other RPOs is also being deployed to clear the pendency as part of the special drive.

The   Government   has   simplified   the   passport   issuance   process   in several   ways.   To   streamline,   liberalise   and   ease   the   process   of passport issuance, the Ministry has taken several steps to simplify passport   policy,   benefiting   citizens   of   India   in   applying   for   and obtaining a passport. The passport portal (www.passportindia.gov.in) is user friendly, accessible to anyone, from anywhere and anytime in India. An applicant can apply for passport from anywhere in India. This citizen-friendly initiative has enabled applicants to choose the Passport Office   (PO)   and   thus   the   desired   PSKs/POPSKs   under   the   Regional Passport Office (RPO) where they wish to submit their application, irrespective of whether the present residential address specified in the application form lies within the jurisdiction of the selected RPO or not. Citizens can also apply, pay and schedule appointments for passport services on mPassportSeva mobile app, and do not require access of computer and printer to apply for passport services. The mPassport Seva   mobile   app   enables   users   to   apply,   pay   and   schedule appointments for passport services. It also provides passport related information, including the location of  PSKs/POPSKs, applicable fees,

submission methods and tracking of passport application status on a smart phone. Ministry's mPassport Police App is being used by the Police authorities for verification of antecedents of the applicants in a paperless digital flow.

Further, DigiLocker has been successfully integrated with the Passport Seva Programme (PSP) system enabling citizens to submit various documents required  for   passport   services   through   DigiLocker   in   a paperless   mode.   For   speedy   issue   of   Passport   there   is   a   'Tatkal Scheme'. In order to make passport issuance process more inclusive, for the transgender community, the Government has issued guidelines to   accept   Certificate   of   Identity/Identity   Card,   issued   under   the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 for the purpose of change of name and gender in passport following change of gender from male to female or vice versa.

(d) There is a PSK/ POPSK in each Lok Sabha Constituency (LSC) of Chhattisgarh   except   Mahasamund   LSC,   where   no   space   has   been provided by the Department of Posts (DoP) till date. An amount of Rs 3 Lakhs is paid for establishment of each POPSK to DoP by the Ministry from its sanctioned budget grant.

(e) The Ministry is in close consultation with relevant stakeholders on upgradation of Passport Sewa Kendra (PSK), Udaipur into a full-fledged

Passport Sewa Kendra (PSK) and relocating it to a new site with upgraded and enhanced facilities. (f)  For faster passport services to students, they can also apply for passports under the Tatkaal category on payment of requisite fees and after fulfilling the required documents, faster issuance of passports is done for their convenience. *****

## List of PSKs / POPSKs Statewise & Yearwise

| Year   |
|--------|

## Annexure 1

| Year   |
|--------|

<!-- image -->

| Year   |
|--------|

| Year   |
|--------|

## RPO wise Pendency (2014 - 31st October 2024)

| RPO         |   2014 | 2015        | 2016   |   2017 |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |   2023 |   2024 |
|-------------|--------|-------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| CPV Delhi   |    167 | 275 436     |        |    107 |     49 |    141 |    112 |     49 |      7 |     91 |      6 |
| Ahmedabad   |   6339 | 4586 1349   |        |   2440 |   9020 |   6162 |   3890 |   6966 |   4278 |  16818 |   3831 |
| Amritsar    |   1363 | 740         | 18     |     19 |   1199 |   1861 |     55 |   1302 |    643 |   4796 |   1223 |
| Bareilly    |  24474 | 17477       | 1756   |   3698 |   8508 |  19869 |   1851 |  12804 |   4882 |  12452 |  10666 |
| Bengaluru   |   5289 | 1807        | 10913  |  12468 |  13215 |   5645 |   2609 |   4246 |  17597 |  10170 |  17851 |
| Bhopal      |   2141 | 638         | 274    |   2402 |   1599 |   2343 |   1141 |   1888 |    460 |    871 |   1512 |
| Bhubaneswar |    636 | 59          | 16     |    170 |   7755 |   7135 |   2238 |   1746 |   3464 |   5067 |   5174 |
| Chandigarh  |   6870 | 2974        | 4446   |   6278 |  13915 |   9854 |   3101 |  13912 |   3077 |  18710 |   7346 |
| Chennai     |  11553 | 4279        | 2483   |   2265 |   3542 |   4452 |   1675 |   1054 |   1855 |   1749 |   2032 |
| Cochin      |    370 | 598 285     |        |    127 |    143 |    233 |     97 |    155 |    844 |    627 |    462 |
| Coimbatore  |    383 | 106 106     |        |   1082 |    457 |    178 |    282 |    436 |    455 |   2724 |   4822 |
| Dehradun    |    584 | 480 2284    |        |    322 |  11403 |   3200 |   2161 |   1386 |    782 |   3183 |   1166 |
| Delhi       |  17946 | 24199 15519 |        |  10388 |  17136 |  40805 |  17485 |  16902 |   7573 |   8745 |   3534 |
| Ghaziabad   |  14339 | 7752 4834   |        |   8500 |  45912 |   9729 |  12118 |  17447 |   8095 |  21744 |   4576 |
| Goa         |    289 | 553         | 41     |     51 |    172 |     72 |     26 |     40 |     39 |     28 |    126 |
| Guwahati    |   2067 | 1304 576    |        |    393 |   3381 |   4381 |    566 |   1121 |    274 |    426 |    889 |

## Annexure-II

| RPO          | 2014   | 2015      | 2016   | 2017   | 2018   | 2019   | 2020   | 2021   | 2022   | 2023   | 2024   |
|--------------|--------|-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Hyderabad    | 12785  | 3702      | 1702   | 770    | 638    | 2593   | 3145   | 11302  | 15044  | 5243   | 4674   |
| Jaipur       | 4165   | 3873      | 2974   | 6313   | 5501   | 20630  | 4900   | 3812   | 2145   | 19200  | 7227   |
| Jalandhar    | 913    | 181       | 69     | 80     | 2      | 2      | 2      | 97     | 234    | 3363   | 2631   |
| Jammu        | 741    | 498 533   |        | 166    | 934    | 525    | 360    | 129    | 1022   | 1181   | 1619   |
| Kolkata      | 18632  | 5151 1829 |        | 1863   | 3991   | 42053  | 1247   | 5529   | 7995   | 2180   | 3131   |
| Kota*        |        |           |        |        |        |        |        |        |        | 1005   | 880    |
| Kozhikode    | 385    | 205       | 116    | 518    | 148    | 107    | 77     | 115    | 372    | 156    | 128    |
| Lucknow      | 4304   | 2590      | 2824   | 6574   | 21599  | 13638  | 4676   | 15999  | 3108   | 9513   | 14492  |
| Madurai      | 7111   | 2255      | 292    | 397    | 1451   | 1307   | 952    | 1817   | 1963   | 1567   | 2184   |
| Malappuram** | 688    | 833       | 468    | 4      | 0      |        |        |        |        |        |        |
| Mumbai       | 7903   | 2444      | 1656   | 3879   | 16236  | 13555  | 3476   | 30091  | 2098   | 8230   | 7122   |
| Nagpur       | 204    | 183       | 427    | 187    | 633    | 4270   | 3901   | 2618   | 1154   | 249    | 1793   |
| Patna        | 16162  | 6339      | 11751  | 2447   | 44118  | 19741  | 3087   | 4847   | 269    | 2928   | 1461   |
| Pune         | 1810   | 1040      | 893    | 9267   | 22638  | 6135   | 861    | 2482   | 544    | 1023   | 805    |
| Raipur       | 166    | 54        | 155    | 388    | 2705   | 2317   | 680    | 571    | 215    | 1981   | 1929   |
| Ranchi       | 37     | 314       | 212    | 449    | 2235   | 844    | 3630   | 375    | 287    | 2012   | 641    |
| Shimla       | 60     | 29        | 20     | 779    | 615    | 274    | 16     | 49     | 4      | 348    | 1470   |
| Srinagar     | 4001   | 831       | 687    | 560    | 768    | 843    | 1968   | 1041   | 4804   | 3286   | 1909   |
| Surat        | 1013   | 2407 2673 |        | 342    | 8725   | 2751   | 306    | 690    | 801    | 3192   | 7214   |

| RPO             | 2014   | 2015   | 2016   |   2017 |   2018 | 2019   | 2020   | 2021   | 2022   | 2023   | 2024   |
|-----------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Thane***        | 2808   | 332    | 573    |    408 |      6 |        |        |        |        |        |        |
| Tiruchirappalli | 1649   | 790    | 1515   |   1744 |   1231 | 831    | 321    | 314    | 876    | 1323   | 553    |
| Trivandrum      | 398    | 101    | 165    |    340 |    463 | 109    | 62     | 1946   | 1481   | 6589   | 737    |
| Vijayawada      |        |        |        |   2653 |    649 | 3824   | 1203   | 10735  | 7517   | 831    | 3700   |
| Visakhapatnam   | 655    | 473    | 412    |   1132 |   1090 | 1045   | 117    | 7512   | 3147   | 1315   | 5404   |
| Total           | 181400 | 102452 | 77282  |  91970 | 273782 | 253454 | 84394  | 183525 | 109405 | 184916 | 136920 |

* RPO Kota was inaugurated on 29th September 2023

** RPO Malappuram merged with RPO Kozhikode on 20th November 2017

*** RPO Thane merged with RPO Mumbai on 21st August 2017

*****