Attention biz travellers! Jumbo passport wait to end

by Rashmi Menon

A shortage of booklets had stalled almost 14,000 passports in Mumbai (13,681 standard 34-page passports and 173 jumbo 60-page passports). An unspecified number across India were also affected (except Tatkal and Emergency cases).

But the wait may end soon. Muktesh K Pardeshi, joint secretary (Passport Seva Project) & chief passport officer, told ETPanache from Delhi on Thursday, “All passport offices will get booklets in a week. Things will stabilise this month.” For a few months now, the 37 regional passport offices (RPO ) across India have not received adequate passport booklets.

The reason - the printing and lamination of the passports carried out by India Security Press (ISP), Nasik, had slowed down due to a shortage of raw material. Pardeshi revealed that the paper and l ami n a t i on f i l m used for passports is impor ted from Indonesia and Europe, respectively. He said that the first shipment of lamination films arrived on Monday. “We expect a full scale supply now,” he says.

Pardeshi adds , “Ever y 2 - 3 yea r s some raw materials get exhausted and ISP has to f loat a tender for them. The turnaround time for tender verification is more if it’s a foreign company.”

Even after a contract is signed, the manufacturer needs lead time to produce the material. Earlier, an Italian company was contracted for the lamination film. Now the contract has been given to a German company.

An increased demand for passports also causes delays. In 2000, India issued 25-30 lakh passports a year. According to Pardeshi, over 85 lakh passports were issued in 2013. This year, the number could reach a crore. “As a result, you will always fall short of meeting expectations,” says Pardeshi.