Resident of Dhubri Town Face Inordinate delay in issuing passport

A Correspondent

DHUBRI: Despite the claim of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation that a passport will be delivered within 30 days from the date of application, Semma Dutta, a resident of ward No 2, AC Das Gupta Road of Dhubri town had to face inordinate delay.

“I applied for a fresh and normal passport online on 27.07.2019 to egov@inditab.com. They issued the acknowledgement. My payment Id is : 8818338719,” said Dutta. She was asked to appear at the Passport Seva Kendra, annex of Head Post Office, Dhubri at 10.30 am on 31.07.2019 and the officials took all attested photocopies, verifying with originals, of her relevant documents and uploaded the file No. GU52C4083862419 to the Regional Passport Office, Guwahati on the same day.

“On being asked over phone on 10.09.2019 at 11.30 am, my husband visited the relevant department in the office of the Superintendent, District Police Administration, Dhubri with a second set of self-attested photocopies of the documents along with the original documents for verification, and submitted the set. But as per set norms, it was their duty to call me,” she said.

Dutta further said that again on being asked over phone, the same day her husband visited the relevant department in the office of the Officer-in-charge, Police HQ, Dhubri with a third set of self-attested photocopies of the documents along with the original documents for verification, and submitted the set.

Since she did not receive the passport applied for, she lodged an online complaint on 18.11.2019 addressed to the Chief Passport Officer, MEA, New Delhi – followed by hard copy of the e-mail on 04.11.2019 by speed post.

In the meantime, she was continuously tracking the status online and ultimately intimated on 25.12.2019 that the passport had been dispatched on 24.12.2019 through speed post. The passport details were - Passport No: S8775624, File No. : GU52C4083862419, Tracking No. : PP700431906IN.

“Finally I received the passport applied for on 27.12.2019. It took me 145 days to get my passport while it is frequently advertised on behalf of MEA that with the implementation of online and digital procedure, one can get a passport within one month,” Dutta said.

Also Watch: Agitated Employees of Nagaon Paper Mill staged mass demonstrations in Jagi Road