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Passport cells in eight more SP offices

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DEC. 27. Passport cells will start functioning in the offices of district Superintendents of Police (SP) in eight more districts from January 1 next, said the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, here on Saturday.

Already passport cells are functioning in Ernakulam Rural, Pathanamthitta, Kozhikode, Kozhikode Rural, Malappuram and Palakkad districts to speed up police verification of the applicants. Cells would now start functioning in Wayanad, Kannur, Kasaragod, Thrissur, Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Kollam districts. The Government has sanctioned Rs. 1.10 crores for computers and other office equipment for these cells, the Chief Ministers said in an official release.

Delays occurred now because regional offices were handling thousands of applications.

Another release said that steps had been taken to simplify procedures and speed up release of assistance from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, on a directive from the Chief Minister. New applications for this had been made available in district, taluk and village offices.

The release said that under the new system, applications, with supporting documents, needed to be submitted only to the village officer. None needed to apply directly to the Chief Minister. The village officer would give his report on the application to the tahsildar in five days. The tahsildar should forward it with necessary recommendations to the Collector within three days. The Collector should directly send it to the Chief Minister's office in two days. Once the Chief Minister approves the applications, the Revenue Department would issue the necessary orders in three days.

As the application has provisions for the recommendations of the officials, there was no need to prepare separate certificate or process files. Mr. Antony, it said, has also directed various departments to restructure procedures for granting of various assistances by them.

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