Passport
Seva Project (PSP) – New system for issuing of passports
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL
AFFAIRS
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION
NO-3913
ANSWERED
ON-02.05.2013
New system for
issuing of passports
3913 . SHRI AMBETH
RAJAN
(a) whether
Government has prepared any comprehensive plan to streamline the Passport
Issuance System in the country ; and
(b) if so, the
details thereof and tentative date by which the new system would come into
force ?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI E. AHAMED)
(a) & (b)
i. As part of
National e-Governance Plan, the Government has implemented Passport Seva
Project (PSP) which aims “to deliver all Passport-related services to the
citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible, reliable manner & in a
comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained
& motivated workforce”.
ii. As a first step
in designing the PSP, the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) was
engaged for studying the existing system of Passport issuance in India and the
global best practices and for making suitable recommendations on establishing a
redesigned system that could fulfill the aforesaid objective.
iii. The IT driven,
citizen-centric PSP was approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2007, for
implementation on the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer model. The PSP envisaged inter
alia (i) outsourcing of delivering front-end passport services, (ii)
establishing 77 Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) across the country, (iii) creating
a centralized IT system linking all the Passport Offices, PSKs, Police and
Postal Department.
iv. The Pilot PSKs
were launched in May – August, 2010 in seven locations. By 14th June, 2012. all
the planned 77 PSKs were set up and operationalised in the country. As on 26th
April, 2013, more than 89 lakh passport service related applications have been
processed under the new system.
v. In the new system,
applicants need to apply for passport services online through the Passport
Portal (www.passportindia.gov.in) and visit the PSK, headed by a Govt officer,
at the appointed date and time. Staff from the private service provider checks
the demographic information, scan and upload supporting documents, takes the
applicants’ photograph and biometrics and accepts application fees on behalf of
the Government. The sovereign and fiduciary functions of verification, granting
and issuing of passport are performed by Government officials. The entire
process is online and streamlined including interface with the Indian police
for verification of personal particulars of applicants and with India Post for tracking
delivery of passports. Status of applications can be tracked through the
Passport Portal www.passportindia.gov.in. For assistance one can call toll-free
helpline 1800-258-1800. An e-mail based helpdesk facility and a 24×7 call
centre has been set up to provide requisite information to citizens in 17
vernacular languages. An SMS message is sent to the citizen as soon as the
passport is dispatched. The number of public dealing counters has been
increased from the erstwhile 350 to 1610 in the new system and public dealing
hours have gone up from 4 hours to 7 hours a day.
vi. The benefits of the
Project to the citizens are service provisioning within defined service levels,
closer and larger number of access points for services, availability of a
portfolio of on-line services with real-time status tracking, an effective
system of grievance redressal and strict adherence to ‘First -In-First Out’
principle in rendering of services.
Source : rajyasabha.nic.in
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