Chandigarh, August 24
Applicants faced a harrowing time at the passport mela held at Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) today. With no waiting room on the premises, applicants had to stand in scorching heat while waiting for their turn. “It is like a punishment to reach the venue early and then wait for an hour on the roadside due to the absence of any waiting room for the passport seekers,” said an applicant who came from Punjab.
Other applicants too who reached the venue ahead of the scheduled time had a similar tale to tell
Adding to their woes, applicants were made to wait for another half-an-hour to reach the counter after the issuance of the token.
Some applicants had another problem waiting for them at the counter.
“The officials who were deployed for the verification of documents rejected my files without mentioning which documents were missing. When I asked them about it, the official said they add those details to their database and were not required to mention in on the file,” said a woman who had come to get a passport made for her 10-year-old daughter.
“We came to the passport mela thinking that the authorities might have set up additional counters to clear the rush, but surprisingly no additional staff was deployed here,” said an applicant from Chandigarh.
Regional Passport Officer Rakesh Agrawal said it was difficult for the department to maintain a waiting room. He said the department had banned the entry of any other person along with the candidate to avoid agents.
Aggarwal said space for 17 counters had been earmarked on the premises keeping in view the future demands.
Records of the department revealed that today there were only seven counters entertaining the applicants, while earlier there used to be 10.
The Regional Passport Office had organised the passport mela to receive the forms as there are three holidays during the weekdays in August.
Records of the department revealed that of the 864 applicants who had taken an appointment today, 780 turned up. Of these, 629 were able to get their passports made, while 135 failed to produce the required documents. They were asked to submit the documents in the next three days.
