Passport grievance redressal now through skype, says RPO

From now on, applicants with any grievance in obtaining a passport can get it redressed through skype, a new facility, which is expected to benefit public to a great extent as they can directly communicate with the Regional Passport Officer.

To begin with, on Wednesdays, the public in Madurai and Tirunelveli can use the skype route available at the Passport Seva Kendra with the RPO, who would be available online between 9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m.

Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, RPO (Madurai Region) S. Maniswara Raja said that the idea to introduce skype is to bridge the gap between the passport officials and the public.

With a large number of public having access to internet, the passport officials had introduced online registration for submitting applications at the PSKs, after which the unnecessary crowding had been prevented as the appointments were not only date specific, but had even time allotted to individual applicants.

Likewise, through SMS, the different stages of processing were introduced in Madurai PSK for the benefit of the applicants.

The skype, Mr. Maniswara Raja said would instantly enable the officials to look into the grievance and redress it faster since through the video, the applicant’s visual identity among other basic information can be directly checked through the video.

The RPO said that there has been a rise in fresh passport seekers in Madurai RPO. Till sometime ago through online registration, an applicant could get an appointment within a week. But this has now got stretched to over a fortnight.

Presently, 598 applications were accepted online in Madurai and Tirunelveli PSKs. From Monday (October 20), 755 applications would be accepted daily, which would help bring down the waiting period.

Additional staff and officers have been deputed for the purpose, he said and added the passport booklets were adequately stocked.

The Madurai RPO which has nine districts – Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari respectively in its jurisdiction has achieved a milestone this year by issuing over two lakh fresh passports (till now 2.10 lakh), which is 16,000 more than last year and 1.78 lakh passports were issued in 2013, he noted.