The Hindu : National : Cabinet bid to expedite issue of passports

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Saturday, Sep 08, 2007
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Cabinet bid to expedite issue of passports

P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI: In a bid to speed up the issue of passports, the Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to outsource the front end activities of passport issuance through open bidding to service providers and the work of dispatch of the passports to India Post.

In addition, it decided to set up 68 passport facilitation centres, upgrade the information technology in use in the passport issuance system with uniform procedures, and establish a central printing unit and an online link with the police authorities for faster verifications.

Announcing the decision, Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said the service providers, who would handle the front-end activities, would be allowed to levy a fee over and above the Government fee for each of the services rendered by them to enable them to recover the costs.

Besides, the working conditions in the passport offices, which would be used as back offices, would be improved at a cost of Rs. 8 crore. The entire project would be completed in 19 months. A special purpose vehicle would be set up for the management, supervision and implementation of the project.

Chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet also approved a proposal for establishing a National Institute of Science Education and Research at Bhubaneswar in Orissa at a cost of Rs. 823.19 crore.

The institute would initially function from the campus of Institute of Physics in the city, pending the construction of the campus, which is to be completed in four years from the date of acquisition of land.

It would offer an integrated M.Sc. programme in core and emerging branches of basic sciences after plus two, an integrated M.Sc.-cum-Ph.D. programme after B.Sc. from other universities and a Ph.D. programme after M.Sc. The academic programmes would start from this month itself.

The institution will be an autonomous body under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). It would be the first of its kind under the DAE umbrella for undergraduate education in basic sciences and for carrying out research in the frontiers of basic sciences.

The Cabinet also gave its nod for the constitution of a council for the promotion of overseas employment.

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