Passport police verification quickest in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla, November 19

Himachal Pradesh has been ranked number one by the Ministry of External Affairs for completing passport verification within 24 hours.

Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar awarded the state police with the ‘Certificate of Recognition’ in Delhi yesterday. It was received by DGP Sanjay Kundu.

Himachal has been ranked at the first place among all states and UTs. Police verification report (PVR) is the basis for the issue of a passport.

In 2016, the average time of the passport verification was 70 days, which has been brought down to just one day for 2021-22. The progress is monitored by the DGP on a weekly basis during every Monday meeting.

A total of 51,800 persons had applied for PVR this year, of which 51,626 (99.6%) had been issued the document within 24 hours. On an average, about 902 persons apply for it every week. The highest request was from Kangra (13,855), followed by 10,530 in Una and 6,046 in Mandi.

Earlier, the passport verification was sent by post to the police stations concerned by the SPs. Now, it’s being sent via mail for verification and replies are also received in a similar manner.