Passport seva kendras in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland this month

AGARTALA: External Affairs Ministry ( MEA) has decided to open passport seva kendras in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland this month and organise camps in remote areas to issue passports.

"With the setting up of two more passport seva kendras in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, all the eight north eastern states would have passport seva kendras in the region.

"We have also planned to organise more camps in remote areas to issue passports to people at their doorsteps," MEA joint secretary and chief passport officer Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi told reporters here yesterday.

A passport seva kendra was inaugurated here by Tripura Finance Minister Bhanu Lal Saha yesterday.

Saha sought Tatkal facility for passports in the Tripura kendra as a large number of people travel through Bangladesh to go to other parts of the country which is not possible without valid passports.

Tripura is girded by Bangladesh on three sides and shares 85 per cent of its total border with the neighbouring country.

Pardeshi said there were 80 passport seva kendras in the country and the ministry was keen to expand its base further.

A total 1.20 crore passports were issued in 2015, which is 20 per cent more than the previous year and the country emerged as the third largest passport issuing one after China and USA, he said.

A target of earning of revenue of Rs 2,400 crore has been fixed for the fiscal year by issuing passports, he added.