Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Indian Passport - Useful information for applying Passport and for Passport Renewal



Initially I had started writing this post for explaining my experience about the difficulties of my Passport renewal process. But, many people are visiting this page by searching for the information about Passport application, Passport Status checking and other Indian Passport related info. So, I am updating this post with the Indian Passport related information. Anyway, if you want to read my original post, you can find it at the end of this post.

NOTE:I am NOT affiliated with Indian Passport Office. I am just giving the details based on my understanding from the data available in Internet, and I may not going to update it frequently. So, Check with Passport office to get the correct and latest information. You may get the latest updates from the MEA Facebook page.

There are two approaches for getting fresh passport or renewing the expired passport.

Either you can manually apply for the passport at Regional Passport Offices or you can apply online for fixing appointment to visit your nearest PSK (Passport Seva Kendra)

The below Video explains about Passport Seva project.



You can apply online either by uploading e-form or by filling the details online.

And, you can calculate the Fee using this link.

You can find your nearest PSK (Passport Seva Kendra) from this page.

And, you can track your passport application status from this page by entering File number and your Date of Birth.

The normal time taken for issuance of a passport is five to six weeks. However in case of an emergency you can apply for a fresh or duplicate passport under the 'Tatkaal' scheme. [Source- India.gov.in ]

You may contact @ASCPV thro' Twitter if you face any difficulty in getting passport.

You can read below my original post explaining my experience about my passport renewal process.


Inefficient Indian Passport System


In February month, I had published a post about my horrible experience with PSK (Passport Seva Kendra) for renewing my passport.

And, in April month I had explained my attempts for escalating it to the passport officers thro' Social media.

Apart from using social media, I had spent lot of time and energy for contacting below email ids.

helpdesk@passportindia.gov.in
grv.jscpv@mea.gov.in,
rpo.madurai@mea.gov.in,
jscpo@mea.gov.in,
ascpv.twitter@gmail.com
jsxp@mea.gov.in

But I haven't got any proper response from these people other than jsxp@mea.gov.in. Anyway, jsxp@mea.gov.in is not dealing with passports. So, ultimately there is no use in contacting these email ids. Note that more than 7 months passed since I applied for the passport renewal in November 2011.

Instead of taking steps to solve their problem of renewing passport, they had started harassing me   

Recently, they updated the status  as below. (previously it was "under review". It seems Status is going backward)

Passport application has been forwarded to Regional Passport Office (RPO) for further action. Please visit RPO in person along with original documents.

It is completely meaningless as I already submitted the originals of bank statement and Marriage affidavit to the PSK and they are keeping the file with them.  And, if only RPO can renew the passport, why the people should waste their time with PSK?

Asking originals from me while keeping it with PSK, is kind of harassment. It seems I am facing harassment as I am pointing out the inefficiency of passport Dept.


And,  My service request (Ref. No 1110019564 ) at passportindia.gov.in  is also updated with below meaning less update.

"It is kindly advised to you to submit one address proof mentioning your current address. Since you are working, at your native place, in a company based at Chennai so you are advised to submit a letter from your company mentionig your current working place as your native place."


I couldn't understand what they mean by saying "your company" as I haven't mentioned any company name in application or any document. If they mean my start-up initiative Qualitypoint technologies, then their words "in a company based at Chennai" are invalid. Because it is based in ottapidaram as I am staying at ottapidaram since 2009. And, I am staying full time at ottapidaram.(except just 1 day travel to chennai once in 1 or 2 months)

So, it is NOT  possible to give the requested letter.

But I couldn't convey this message as the service request screen is NOT having option to update from my side.
So, it is clear that passport Dept. people have started harassing me, instead of correcting their problems.

I am reading many news items saying that Indian Government is spending lot of money for establishing PSKs along with a Private company TCS (Tata Consultancy Services). But I don't know why the passport renewal is taking this much time.

And, interestingly I am NOT the only person facing this problem. I am seeing lot of people complaining about PSKs.  It seems some people are waiting from 2008 for their passport. The worst part is, some people are tweeting that they have to make Rs. 15000 to get the passport. I am NOT sure whether it is true or not. But I can say that if the passport Department performance is going in this manner, it will  become true for everyone.

As my passport renewal was pending for more than 7 months, I had done lot of analysis about this problem  involving both the Indian passport officers and the corporate TCS.  And,  I came to know about two types of arguments. Some people are saying that the inefficiency is introduced by the corporate TCS, while others are saying that the problem is artificially being created by the passport officers so that they can remove the TCS from the system by blaming TCS for this inefficiency, because passport officers are seeing TCS  as obstacle for continuing their usual way of work.  I couldn't understand which one is correct. (Anyway, personally I face difficulties from both TCS employees and Passport officers)  Do you have any additional details to decide the wrong party? And, how to prevent this kind of in-efficiency?  You can share your thoughts thro' the comments.


Updates on July 06th 2012
Today I got reply from helpdesk@passportindia.gov.in for my email. These people had just sent the status mentioned in passportindia.gov.in. Interestingly I already mentioned about this status in my email itself. So, it seems these people are just sending standard reply even without reading the email message.

Updates on July 09th 2012
Status is updated as "Passport application is under review at Regional Passport Office"

Updates on July 11th 2012
Today Police Verification is done.

Updates on July 13th 2012
Status is updated with below details.

Passport application has been granted to applicant on 13/07/2012. Your application is under processing. You would receive an email/sms once the passport is dispatched.


Updates on July 17th 2012

Today I received my Passport. Thanks for the people who helped me to get the passport.
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2 comments:

suresh said...

Information about indian passport dept are really good. keep posting these kind of information

Anonymous said...

Two areas need attention. The first one is getting appointment.
This puts the client at bay and annoying. The second is tracking the status as it doesn't move
for decades. People try to access
this service for some important
situation but the service lacks
the demand. MEA should understand
this point and employ more workforce to meet the demand. What to say this is after all India and
the thing would never change for decades and the fate of a common
man is so because of his birth in this country.

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