Lok Sabha Question No. 955 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-08
Subject: Passport Service Centres
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Sanjay Seth, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Arjunlal Meena

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-955 ANSWERED ON- 08/12/2023

## PASSPORT SERVICE CENTRES

## †955.   SHRI SANJAY SETH SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL SHRI ARJUN LAL MEENA

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

(a) the number of Passport Service Centres/ Passport Seva Kendras opened in India during the last three years along with the funds allocated therefor, State-wise including Jharkhand and Bihar;

(b) the number of passports issued along with the applications pending during the said period, State-wise including Jharkhand;

(c) whether the Government has taken any steps to clear the pending applications and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Government has any proposal to open new passport centres in the country and if so, the details thereof, State-wise including Jharkhand; and

(e) whether the Government has any proposal to upgrade the Passport SevaKendras operated in Udaipur to the Regional Passport Office and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## [SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]

(a to e) In the last 3 years, 10 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) have been opened in India with 1 in Jharkhand, 2 in Bihar, 2 in Madhya Pradesh, 3 in Maharashtra, 1 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in Andaman & Nicobar. As a result, there are 93 Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) and 434 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) currently functioning in the country including Jharkhand and Bihar.

Expenditure on Passport Service Centres / Passport Seva Kendras is met from the budgetary grant of the Ministry of External Affairs and no separate funds are allocated for it.

The number of passports issued during the last three years, State-wise, including Jharkhand and applications that are in various stages of processing, including Jharkhand are attached as Annexure I and Annexure II.

To clear the huge volume of applications, Government augmented officials to deal with the increasing demand. Officials have also been working on Saturdays to process the passport applications. Ministry in association with Department of Posts (DoP) had decided in January 2017 to open Passport Seva Kendras at the Head Post Offices (HPO)/ Post Offices (PO) in the country called Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) in each Lok Sabha Constituency where there is no Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or POPSK. As on date, 93 PSKs and 434 POPSKs have been set up in the country and are operational to cater to the needs of passport seekers. The Ministry is in close consultation with relevant stakeholders on upgradation of Passport Seva Laghu Kendra (PSLK), Udaipur into a full-fledged Passport Seva Kendra (PSK).

*****

## Annexure-I

| Passport Issued   | Passport Issued        |   Passport Issued |   Passport Issued |   Passport Issued | Passport Issued      |
|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|----------------------|
| S.No.             | State                  |              2020 |              2021 |              2022 | 2023 (till Nov 2023) |
| 1                 | Andaman and Nicobar    |                19 |              1637 |              3031 | 4930                 |
| 2                 | Andhra Pradesh         |            189276 |            306431 |            503895 | 547418               |
| 3                 | Arunachal Pradesh      |              2001 |              2068 |              3786 | 4883                 |
| 4                 | Assam                  |             41574 |             58018 |            118943 | 120613               |
| 5                 | Bihar                  |            169218 |            255005 |            395609 | 345607               |
| 6                 | Chandigarh             |             16659 |             21051 |             27560 | 29449                |
| 7                 | Chhattisgarh           |             21337 |             27204 |             48230 | 50143                |
| 8                 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli |              1113 |              1983 |              2889 | 2999                 |
| 9                 | Daman and Diu          |              3266 |              5304 |              4238 | 3986                 |
| 10                | Delhi                  |            213254 |            287905 |            415979 | 456129               |
| 11                | Goa                    |             26486 |             34268 |             51026 | 52903                |
| 12                | Gujarat                |            380582 |            514258 |            759560 | 917724               |
| 13                | Haryana                |            201690 |            288303 |            481993 | 531400               |
| 14                | Himachal Pradesh       |             28124 |             41420 |             53481 | 63753                |
| 15                | Jammu and Kashmir      |             72958 |             67157 |            121127 | 139452               |
| 16                | Jharkhand              |             40431 |             66488 |            100645 | 99799                |
| 17                | Karnataka              |            344302 |            427835 |            713991 | 757605               |
| 18                | Kerala                 |            650708 |            929369 |           1513058 | 1411483              |
| 19                | Ladakh                 |               968 |              2337 |              4080 | 5771                 |

| 20   | Lakshadweep    |     864 |    1064 |     2049 |     2218 |
|------|----------------|---------|---------|----------|----------|
| 21   | Madhya Pradesh |   92063 |  112721 |   199785 |   217159 |
| 22   | Maharashtra    |  566199 |  764668 |  1250829 |  1378207 |
| 23   | Manipur        |    5415 |    7440 |    13437 |    10196 |
| 24   | Meghalaya      |    3398 |    3583 |     7212 |     8981 |
| 25   | Mizoram        |    2176 |    2373 |     4796 |     6637 |
| 26   | Nagaland       |    3285 |    3949 |     5337 |     7321 |
| 27   | Odisha         |   53502 |   74728 |   111994 |   114094 |
| 28   | Puducherry     |   13517 |   18888 |    28061 |    27727 |
| 29   | Punjab         |  482413 |  644678 |   935884 |  1083772 |
| 30   | Rajasthan      |  174611 |  225950 |   377479 |   415571 |
| 31   | Sikkim         |    2082 |    3140 |     4937 |     5698 |
| 32   | Tamil Nadu     |  471717 |  667563 |  1053907 |  1055670 |
| 33   | Telangana      |  276766 |  420929 |   634854 |   717416 |
| 34   | Tripura        |   24170 |   14864 |    26026 |    34724 |
| 35   | Uttar Pradesh  |  496619 |  642165 |  1115650 |  1256384 |
| 36   | Uttarakhand    |   48198 |   73676 |    99135 |   118072 |
| 37   | West Bengal    |  291653 |  343071 |   546710 |   556684 |
|      | Grand Total    | 5412614 | 7363491 | 11741203 | 12562578 |

| Applications that are in various stages of processing   | Applications that are in various stages of processing   | Applications that are in various stages of processing   |
|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                                  | RPO Name                                                | Total Count                                             |
| 1                                                       | Ahmedabad                                               | 29,870                                                  |
| 2                                                       | Trivandrum                                              | 13,507                                                  |
| 3                                                       | Kolkata                                                 | 11,515                                                  |
| 4                                                       | Hyderabad                                               | 10,832                                                  |
| 5                                                       | Chandigarh                                              | 10,083                                                  |
| 6                                                       | Ghaziabad                                               | 8,819                                                   |
| 7                                                       | Bareilly                                                | 5,892                                                   |
| 8                                                       | Mumbai                                                  | 5,501                                                   |
| 9                                                       | Vijayawada                                              | 5,029                                                   |
| 10                                                      | Amritsar                                                | 4,591                                                   |
| 11                                                      | Bengaluru                                               | 3,961                                                   |
| 12                                                      | Dehradun                                                | 3,532                                                   |
| 13                                                      | Jalandhar                                               | 2,459                                                   |
| 14                                                      | Coimbatore                                              | 2,270                                                   |
| 15                                                      | Raipur                                                  | 2,263                                                   |
| 16                                                      | Jammu                                                   | 1,985                                                   |
| 17                                                      | Srinagar                                                | 1,969                                                   |
| 18                                                      | Patna                                                   | 1,824                                                   |
| 19                                                      | Madurai                                                 | 1,097                                                   |
| 20                                                      | Visakhapatnam                                           | 1,024                                                   |
| 21                                                      | Lucknow                                                 | 1,017                                                   |
| 22                                                      | Jaipur                                                  | 1,015                                                   |
| 23                                                      | Cochin                                                  | 956                                                     |
| 24                                                      | Ranchi                                                  | 771                                                     |
| 25                                                      | Delhi                                                   | 700                                                     |
| 26                                                      | Kozhikode                                               | 638                                                     |
| 27                                                      | Kota                                                    | 495                                                     |
| 28                                                      | Shimla                                                  | 476                                                     |
| 29                                                      | Tiruchirappalli                                         | 443                                                     |
| 30                                                      | Pune                                                    | 264                                                     |

## Annexure-II

| 31    | Chennai     | 251      |
|-------|-------------|----------|
| 32    | Surat       | 157      |
| 33    | Bhubaneswar | 124      |
| 34    | Bhopal      | 31       |
| 35    | Goa         | 8        |
| 36    | Nagpur      | 6        |
| 37    | Guwahati    | 3        |
| Total | Total       | 1,35,378 |

*****