Imphal: Passport Seva Mobile Van service for the citizens of North Eastern region under Regional Passport Office, Guwahati was launched by the joint secretary for the Passport Seva Project and chief Passport officer, Ministry of External Affairs, Dr. K.J. Srinivasa, IFS at Gauhati University on Saturday, upholding the initiative of M/o External Affairs “Passport Seva Aapke Dwar”.
The Mobile Van service will be deployed to far-flung rural and remote areas where citizens can easily submit their Passport applications, thereby ensuring last-mile delivery of passport and its related services, a press release said.
At present, there are 6 Passport Seva Kendras and 19 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras covering 6 North East States under RPO Guwahati. Dr. KJ Srinivasa said, “The mobile van is a one stop shop where applicants can complete all the processes of application submission”. One mobile van each has been provided to all the 37 RPOs across the country for now and the same can be increased to 2 or 3 in due course.
This initiative reaffirmed the Ministry of External Affairs’ commitment to making passport services more accessible, efficient and citizen friendly.
The launching programme was also attended by senior officers and officials from RPO Guwahati, TCS and Gauhati University. The launch marked ‘one step closer to providing passport to far flung areas’.
During his visit, Dr. Srinivasa met and interacted with various stakeholders of passport and its related services including the DGP of Assam, Harmeet Singh and ADGP of Assam, Hiren Chandra Nath as well as the CPMG, Col. Arvind Varma. He also inspected the RPO and PSK Guwahati, during which, he appreciated the efforts and dedication of all the officials from the ministry and TCS and encourage them to maintain the highest degree of efficiency, transparency and integrity.
Dr. Srinivasa also paid a courtesy call on the governor of Assam, Laxman Acharya, and chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, briefing them on the successful passport issuance and delivery mechanisms of the ministry. Both expressed their appreciation and satisfaction on the delivery of citizen services in a time bound manner.
