Passport issuance delays due to Covid backlog, Central Government tells Punjab MPs

New Delhi, August 4

The Central Government admitted in the Lok Sabha that the demand for passport services across India, including in Punjab, has increased significantly due to a backlog caused by the Covid pandemic.

The Ministry of External Affairs said some of the measures to address this issue include opening of additional camps on Saturdays, creating additional passport processing counters as well as releasing additional appointments daily. Deployment of additional personnel and cross-granting practices have also been used to expedite passport issuance, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muralidharan said in a written reply to a question from Jasbir Singh Gill and Gurjeet Singh Aujla.

The two MPs had asked whether the government had taken note that due to poor passport services at Amritsar and other passport centres of Punjab, a huge corruption network has been created.

They also asked for the number of days taken by RPO to issue passport after filling the application. The question was not answered by the government. It also did not reply to the query whether the government has any proposal to enhance Passport Seva Kendras in Punjab, including Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur, to provide better passport services.