Last year, 1 passport was issued every 37 seconds in Karnataka
Bengaluru: One passport was issued every 37 seconds in Karnataka in 2023, according to data available with the Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru. Karnataka printed and issued a record number of 8.5 lakh blue books last year – the highest in 10 years.
The Regional Passport Office (RPO), which operates five Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the state, including two in Bengaluru (on Lalbagh Road and Marathahalli) and 23 other post office centres, said it has set aside 1.2 lakh passports by 2023. Released more books. In the last year.
“The Bengaluru PSK’s share in passports issued in the state was about 65% in 2023. While the PSK at Marathahalli issued more than 630 regular passports, 150 tatkal passports and 50 police clearance certificates in a day, the PSK at Lalbagh Road issued about Issued 1,250 regular passports, 250 tatkal passports and 100 police clearance certificates per day,” said Krishna K, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru.
After experiencing a slowdown during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the pace of passport issuance picked up in 2022 and 2023, surpassing the previous record of 7.6 lakh in 2019.
RPO sources attributed the increase in the number of passports issued to two reasons – one, travel has increased across the country and Karnataka is not far behind, and two, applications for passports are lower than five years ago. It has become easier.
The year 2024 is going to be important for passport services in the country as Passport Seva Program (PSP) 2.0 is to be launched in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services. As part of the programme, chip-enabled passports are likely to be introduced in the country. PS.0 was introduced in May 2010 as a pilot project in Bengaluru and Chandigarh before being made available to the rest of the country by 2012.
In June 2023, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had announced that PSP 2.0 will aim to ensure easy foreign travel by using digital ecosystem and artificial intelligence-driven service delivery through ‘Ease’ i.e. Enhanced Passport Services, e-passport . In the form of increased data security.
