13 Passport Seva Kendras launched in Kerala

Kochi, April 2 (IANS) Minister of External Affairs S.M.Krishna Monday launched 13 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in Kerala and said he will ensure that a few more are sanctioned when the next round of PSKs are cleared.

He inaugurated the seva kendras at a function held here in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other top political leaders in the state.

'I take this opportunity to congratulate the state government which worked very fast to see that 13 PSKs are opened in the state in one go. I have been requested to see that a few more are opened in the state and I assure that this would be taken up,' said Krishna.

Till now, people who wanted a passport had to approach one of the four passport offices at Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kochi and Malappuram.

Speaking to IANS, Chandy said that with the opening of these PSKs that are to be managed by Tata Consultancy Services, people will have access to state-of-the-art services.

'We have told minister Krishna that despite the 13 new PSKs that were opened today, five of the 14 districts of Kerala still do not have a PSK. The one at Pathanamitta is expected to open very soon, while for the other four, we have asked the Minister to speed up things,' said Chandy.

With this PSKs, people can directly log in to www.passportindia.gov.in and create a user ID and assign a password and then, one can submit the form online .

Once that is done, an appointment is given and the applicant has to personally go to the PSK with all the original documents.

'One complaint that I have been getting from people is the delay in issuing of passports because of the police verifications reports. For this, I am going to call a meeting of top passport and police officials very soon. I am hopeful that after the meeting takes place and a proper system is put in place, a passport can be issued in less than three weeks time,' said Chandy.