Patna Passport Office records highest growth in India

PATNA: The Regional Passport Office (RPO) at Patna has notched highest growth in the country during 2014.

It received 3.02 lakh applications from January 1 to December 31 this year in comparison to 1.78 lakh applications during the same period in 2013, a jump of 64 per cent year on year.

Similarly, the RPO issued 2.56 lakh passports in 2014 in comparison to 1.69 lakh passports in 2013, a record growth of 57 per cent.

"Our revenues have also registered a growth of 35 per cent during 2014. It grew to 46.6 crore this year from 33.4 crore in 2013. According to our data, the Patna RPO has recorded the highest per centage growth in the country in the filed of applications, issuance of passports and revenues," Regional Passport Officer Anand Kumar told PTI.

Elaborating about the annual work of the RPO, Kumar said 18 passport melas (fair) were organised here during the year at which 16,858 applications were accepted from the public. Similarly, 15 passport adalat, including one Haj adalat, were also held in 2014 at which 1,322 grievances were speedily disposed of.

"Working on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) scheme of 'passport at your doorstep' we organised Passport Seva Camp at Siwan, Muzaffarpur and Gaya so that people do not have to travel to Patna to submit their applications," Kumar added.

The RPO launched an Android-based application to provide passport-related information to applicants and facilitate quick solutions for their problems.