Chennai: With more people now going abroad either for woÂrk or or study, the Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the city are seeing a jump in applicants.
As many as 3.73 lakh quÂeÂued up for passports last year as against 3.29 lakh in 2012. But the number of apÂÂplÂicants opting for tatÂkal is falling. While 40 per cent took the tatkal route in 2011, only 20 per cent did in 2012 and nine per ceÂnt in 2013.
“Not many apÂpÂlicants are using tatkal now as the processing tiÂme even for ordinary passports is quite short. On an average, a fresh passport with police verification is issued in 15 days,” says Regional Passport Officer (RPO) C. Senthil Pandian, noting that for children below 14 , government servants and those applying for renewal, passports are issued even in three days as there is no police verification involved.
“Of the 3.67 laÂkh passports issÂuÂed by the ChÂeÂÂnÂnÂai ofÂfÂice, 40 per ceÂnt went to grÂaduates and above, 16.5 per cent to students and 5.1 per cent to government and PSU employees,” PaÂndian revÂeals.
Tamil NÂaÂdu, he saÂys, has moved up to second place in number of passports isÂsued in the country. “WhÂile Kerala leads the list, we have overtaken Andhra Pradesh to reach the second position,” he adds.
People too now seem moÂre satisfied with the passport service offered. R. Deepa, who recently applÂied for a passport for her infant daughter, was pleasantly surprised to receive it within three days.
“When I applied for it in 2000, it took more than two months for me to get my passport. But now things have become much faster,” she observes, also happy with the mobile alerts that helped her keep tabs on her application.
