Kerala   

50 lakh passports to be issued this year

Special Correspondent

KOCHI: The Central Passport Organisation will issue 50 lakh passports this year, Chief Passport Officer R.R. Dash has said.

This would be up from 44 lakh passports issued in 2006 and 35.6 lakh passports in 2005, he told the The Hindu on Sunday. There was a tremendous increase in the demand for passports. By 2010, the number would go up to one crore, he said.

The main demand was from those looking for jobs overseas. The growing opportunities for Indian information technology (IT) professionals around the world and the country's vast pool of IT human resource was one of the reasons for the upsurge in demand.

The recent economic boom in the country also added to it. The boom had created a huge middle class with a large disposable income at their command. These sections wanted to see and explore foreign shores and hence the boom in Indian tourists visiting other countries.

Five new offices

To cope with the demand, five more passport offices would be opened at Coimbatore, Madurai, Shimla, Raipur and Dehradun this year, Mr. Dash said. As of now, there were 31 passport offices in the country.

Kerala, with its four offices in Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and the latest at Malappuram, had the most number of offices in any State. The largest number of applicants was also from Kerala.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kerala Minister tenders unconditional apology
Need for mutual understanding, respect among religions: Kobia
Criticism against costly suit: Paloli
Minister should resign: Chandy
50 lakh passports to be issued this year
Presentation refutes report
Promoting ethnic arts
Around the City
Briefly

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu