Krishna inaugurates 50th passport seva centre in Delhi

New Delhi, Feb 23 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna inaugurated the country's 50th Passport Seva Kendra at the Herald House building here on Thursday.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Krishna reaffirmed the government's firm commitment to provide timely delivery of passport services to Indian citizens.

Seventy seven Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) are being set up as part of the nation-wide implementation of the passport seva project, with the aim of providing easier accessibility, convenience and public services to citizens in a comfortable environment using world class infrastructure.

The project has been completed in several states, and by the end of February 2012, The ministry plans to make 60 PSKs ready for operational launch. Work is in progress at other sites.

A total of 73.65 lakh passport related services were rendered in 2011 through the network of 37 Passport Offices (supported by Passport Seva Kendras) and 178 Indian Missions and Posts abroad.

The sprawling passport seva kendra at Herald House is equipped with state- of-the-art facilities for processing nearly 1000 applications per day.

Two other PSKs are already operational under the jurisdiction of Regional Passport Office, Delhi at Shalimar Place and Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon.

The 4th PSK will be opened shortly at the premises of RPO, Bhikaji Cama Place for augmenting facilities for passport related services.

The passport seva project is a flagship e-Governance initiative undertaken by the Ministry of External Affairs to comprehensively overhaul the Passport Issuance System. The Project is being implemented in public-private partnership mode with Tata Consultancy Services as service provider.

The pilot project was launched in Bangalore in May 2010 and following requisite certification, the nation-wide rollout began in June 2011. In a short time, the project has moved from Pilot Project mode to nation-wide rollout with 50 out of 77 planned PSKs already operational across the country.

The project is to be completed within next two-three months, setting a new benchmark for project execution and delivery of public services in the country. (ANI)