The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : No end to passport ordeals!

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Saturday, Oct 04, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

No end to passport ordeals!

Marri Ramu

‘Torture’ continues in the form of missing files, vague replies and bungling

---Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Arduous wait: People waiting outside the passport office on Friday.

HYDERABAD: Forty-two-year-old B. Anand Kumar faced many challenges in life but securing a passport is turning out to be the most excruciating one.

After running from pillar to post for over a couple of months, he stands to lose his first ‘foreign assignment’ opportunity thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of the passport office staff. Kumar received a rude jolt the other day when the Adalat counter at the passport office simply told him that his ‘file was missing’. Missing files, vague replies ordeal never ends

Name misspelt

He received many such shocks since he applied for passport on July 26. It started when he found that the staff wrongly spelt his name in the records, while checking the status of his application online. “I had to visit the office six times to get it corrected, every time spending three to hour hours,” Kumar said.

On September 5 the Adalat counter employees said his passport had already been issued in 1997! “I didn’t know what to do. I was forced to submit a declaration form with my details,” he said.

But the ordeal was far from over for him. Thinking that everything was put in place, he went to inquire about the status of his application on September 11 only to be told that his police verification certificate was not received. Worried, he rushed to Cyberabad Police Commissionerate. But the police proved the passport office staff wrong by giving the despatch number of the verification report and the acknowledgement receipt they received.

With much difficulty, he collected a copy of the report, submitted it in the passport office and went to inquire about his application status on October 1. But his ordeal had come full a circle when the Adalat counter said his file was missing.

Kumar is not the only victim of bureaucratic bungling in the passport office. M. Ravinder Reddy, M. Jyothi, Sravan, ….the list is endless. Notwithstanding claims of the government that procedures at the passport office are people-friendly, the misery continues for people.

(Readers can highlight their grievances pertaining to passport office through these columns. Email them to ‘ hydlife@thehindu.co.in’ or post them to The City Editor, The Hindu, Begumpet, Hyderabad-16.)

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