The external affairs ministry is working with police forces in states and Union territories to reduce the time taken for police verification of passport applicants as part of efforts to improve the passport delivery ecosystem, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.
In a message on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas, Jaishankar said his ministry is committed to ensuring that passports significantly impact the country’s development by facilitating international trade and investment and enhancing global mobility.
To provide better passport services, the ministry has launched 440 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras. This is in addition to the 93 Passport Seva Kendras, 533 passport processing centres and 37 regional passport offices across the country. The ministry has also integrated the passport issuance systems in 187 Indian missions abroad.
“To further improve the passport delivery ecosystem, the ministry is continuously working with States/UTs police to reduce the time taken for police verification,” Jaishankar said.
The “mPassport Police App”, which streamlines the police verification process, has been rolled out in 9,000 police stations of 25 states and Union territories, he said. “The Passport Seva System has also been integrated successfully with DigiLocker system to facilitate paperless documentation process,” he added.
According to information provided by Jaishankar in the Lok Sabha in December 2023, the nationwide average time for police verification is 14 days. However, states and Union territories where the mPassport Police App has been launched have cut the average time for police verification to less than five days, he said.
The average time taken for issuing a normal passport, excluding the time for police verification, is seven to 10 days and the average time for a Tatkaal passport is one to three days, Jaishankar said at the time. “Police Verification of applicants’ particulars plays an important role in timely dispatch of passports,” he had said.
Jaishankar said in his message that the government is committed to ensuring that passports significantly impact the country’s development by facilitating international trade and investment, boosting tourism, enhancing global mobility, education and skills development, diplomatic ties, security and regulation and legal identity.
Passports also help in crisis management, such as the evacuation and assistance of Indian nationals, he added.
The external affairs ministry, along with the Central Passport Organisation, is committed to providing passport services to citizens in a timely, reliable, accessible, transparent and efficient manner, Jaishankar said. The ministry provided 16.5 million passport-related services during 2023 and there was a 15% growth in passport and other related services in the same period.
The monthly submission of passport applications crossed the 1.4- million mark during 2023.
