Lok Sabha Question No. 2428 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-13
Subject: Consular Services in Uttar Pradesh
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Zia Ur Rehman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2428

## ANSWERED ON 13/02/2026

CONSULAR SERVICES IN UTTAR PRADESH

2428.  Shri Zia Ur Rehman

Will the Minister of  EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :

(a) whether the Government is aware of  difficulties faced by residents of  Western Uttar Pradesh in passport issuance, consular services and grievance redressal;

(b) if  so, the details of  steps taken to improve accessibility and efficiency of passport and consular services in the said region;

(c) whether similar service-delivery issues exist in other parts of  the country; and

(d) if  so, the details of  measures undertaken at national level to  improve citizen-centric external affairs services?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d) Currently in Uttar Pradesh, 6 PSKs and 52 POPSKs are operational under 3 RPOs viz. RPO Lucknow, RPO Ghaziabad and RPO Bareilly. In   Western   Uttar   Pradesh,   Passport   related   services   are   provided through 2 PSKs and 19 POPSKs under RPO Ghaziabad and RPO Bareilly.

Ministry of  External Affairs has taken several steps to provide improved and smooth passport and consular services to the citizens of the country, including the citizens residing in western Uttar Pradesh. The upgraded Passport Programme Version 2.0 (PSP V2.0) has been rolled out in all 37 Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) in the country, including the 3 RPOs in Uttar Pradesh.

Passport   Seva   Programme   (PSP),   an   IT   driven   mission   mode project,   has   been   successfully   providing   an   efficient,   secure,   userfriendly,        transparent and accountable passport services to citizens across the country.

New digital tools introduced under PSP V2.0 have significantly addressed the difficulties faced by the Passport applicants and improved the passport application and grievance-redressal experience by making the   process   faster,   transparent   and   more   user-friendly.  Further,   the

payment  of   application   fees   has   been   expanded   through   expanded through   digital   modes.   Online   appointment   facilities   and   feedback kiosks/screens   has   also   been   installed   in   PSKs/POPSKs   for   quicker service improvements.

In June 2018, Ministry had launched the 'Apply anywhere in India' scheme under which a passport can be applied at any PSK/POPSK in India. Also, MEA has been regularly deploying Passport Mobile Van under respective RPOs, including RPOs in Western Uttar Pradesh, for on-site passport processing in rural/remote and underserved areas.

Further, the Ministry  provides attestation/apostille services to Indian nationals for their original document/true copies of  documents to be used abroad. Apostille is acceptable in all member-countries of  the Hague Convention of  October 5, 1961. Ministry also launched e-Sanad portal in the year 2017 with the aim of  contactless, faceless, seamless economic and efficient online attestation & apostille services. e-Sanad has been linked with Digilocker as well, wherein verification is done real time for documents which can be fetched from the Digilocker database.

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