News Desk. There is relief news for those people of Uttar Pradesh who have to travel to other districts to get a passport made. Now preparations are being made to open Passport Seva Centers in five more districts of the state. Under this, this facility will be started in Amla, Etah, Firozabad, Mainpuri and Sambhal. These centers are planned to be operated in main post offices, so that the local people do not have to go far for passport application and biometric process.
Actually, a total of 13 districts including Bareilly and Moradabad divisions come under the Regional Passport Office Bareilly. At present Passport Seva Kendras are functioning in nine of these districts. Preparations are being made by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Posts to provide facilities to the remaining districts also. According to Regional Passport Officer Shailendra Kumar Singh, it is expected that all five new centers will be started by next month.
Passport will also be made from mobile van
To ease the process of making a passport, the Ministry of External Affairs is also providing the facility of mobile van under the Passport Aapke Dwar scheme. In districts where the number of applicants is high and permanent centers are not available, mobile vans are sent as per the need. With this, people of rural areas will also be able to get passport related services near them.
Relief also given in verification of documents
Documents like high school certificate, Aadhar card and PAN card are required during passport application. Now if the applicant's documents are available in DigiLocker then they can be verified online. In such a situation, the problem of showing the original documents also reduces.
Apart from this, rules regarding validity of passport of children below 15 years of age have also been clarified. The passport of such children will remain valid for a maximum of five years or till they complete 18 years of age, whichever period is completed first will be applicable. With the opening of the new Passport Seva Kendra, people of five districts are expected to get great facilities. This will save time and travel expenses and the process of making a passport will be easier than before.