dna special: Is it a passport office or crowded local? Hard to tell the difference

Ever had the misfortune of visiting the Regional Passport Office in Prabhadevi, popularly known as Old Passport Office? It might just make you feel as if the walls are closing in on you. And that's not much of a surprise with the office space being as crowded as the suburban locals, along with lack of ventilation, non-functioning air conditioners, stuffy air and no separate queues for pregnant women, senior citizens or the physically challenged.

People wanting to get their work done have to wait in one queue after another, a minimum of three times, with the wait each time exceeding 45 minutes.

With digitisation of records being adopted, each and every document submitted by an applicant is supposed to get scanned. But there is only one scanner available for hundreds of applicants, which just means a wait of another hour at the very least.

"I have been waiting to get my work done in this office since 10am. But despite lunch hour getting over, it seems, a couple of more hours will pass before I get to leave," said a senior citizen, who was not given preferential treatment.

An applicant from Andheri, J Shetty, said, "Despite me holding a passport since 2009, I have been informed through a letter by the department that I am not a citizen of India."

Regional passport officer TD Sharma admitted there are issues with the current office, including space crunch. "We are desperately waiting to shift to the new office in Bandra-Kurla Complex. Furniture work is pending. Once we shift there, all these problems will cease," he added. The back office operations, however, are likely to move to the business district only by October this year.

According to an official, there is severe staff crunch, with officials retiring or going on leave and no one to replace them. On top of that, the Regional Passport Office works only four days a week. If any public holiday falls on a working day, the situation becomes worse on the subsequent days.