RAWALPINDI: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Tuesday said Directorate of Passports and Immigration would soon expand its new service to six provincial capitals including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan where passports would be delivered at doorsteps of the applicants

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of newly-constructed building of the Regional Passport Office Rawalpindi where home delivery service of passports has been started from Tuesday.This service will be extended soon to six provincial capitals including AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said state-of-the-art passport offices having latest equipments will be set up across the country to facilitate the citizens, saying that acquiring passport is fundamental right of every citizen and the government is making all-out efforts to fulfill its duty in this regard.

The Minister said various facilities have been provided at regional passport office Rawalpindi including online tracking and SMS service. This has brought the center at par with the developed countries under which applicants could get information about present status of their applications.

Under the newly introduced system, only one visit of an applicant to passport office is mandatory for giving photo and thumb impression, while the staff concerned would be duty-bound to issue passport within the given time frame.

Interior Minister said the Directorate of Passports and Immigration has had cleared backlog of 400,000 passports in just six months, which is evident from the fact that its performance has improved considerably. He said the present government believed in good governances and transparency and it had cancelled as many as 2,000 official passports issued to unauthorized persons during last five years.

He said that the new passports would be issued for ten years rather than five years, saying new passports are being issued from January 1. He also announced establishment of Bank counters inside passport offices where bank branches are at a distance from passport offices. The Minister appreciated performance of Director General (DG) Immigration and Passports and his team to clear all the backlog of passports and taking solid steps to facilitate the applicants.

He said the construction of new offices and renovation of old buildings are being completed to improve the customer service. Nisar said the directorate has been directed to improve its functions and streamline the process to completely eliminate corruption and assist the citizens of the country.

The DG Immigration and Passports briefed the minister about newly-constructed building of the regional passport office which has been completed at a cost of Rs 47.9 million.

He said the jurisdiction of the RPO Rawalpindi includes all tehsils except Gujar Khan and Kahuta with an approximate population of 3.8 million. He said around 550 to 600 applicants daily visit the office. He also announced establishment of Bank counters inside passport offices where bank branches are at a distance from passport offices.

(APP)