Telangana No.1 in speedy delivery of passports: RPO

Telangana bagged the number one position in the country in speedy delivery of passports to applicants, according to Regional Passport Officer (RPO) E Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.

Interacting with the media here on Thursday on the occasion of the second successful year of Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) in the State, he said 5.20 lakh passports were issued in 2018 by the RPO while only 2,000 applications were pending due to improper information furnished.

For the last five years, the Telangana Police has been in the top position in completing the verification of antecedents of applicants in four days. They were completing verification in four days in districts and the same in three days in the city. This has been enabling passport officials to process the application and deliver passport through the Postal Department within a few days of submission. Some 58,710 passports were delivered through POPSKs in districts in 2018 and only 200 applications were



pending. The POPSKs were helping applicants in villages to get their passport in a hassle-free manner instead of coming to the city. This initiative was enabling applicants in districts to save time and money, Reddy said.

In all, 60,000 people availed services offered at POPSKs in districts. As promised, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has now established a POPSK in each Parliamentary constituency in the State with the inauguration of a passport seva kendra at Wanaparthy on Thursday. 

Agriculture, Cooperation and Marketing Minister S Niranjan Reddy inaugurated the facility.

Of the 396 POPSKs in the country, 14 were presently operational in the State. In stage one, POPSKs in Karimnagar and Nizamabad were launched while similar facilities were inaugurated in Nalgonda, Khammam, Siddipet and Adilabad in the second while the remaining districts were covered in the third phase.