The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Passport mela at Hindupur

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Saturday, Feb 21, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Passport mela at Hindupur

Staff Reporter

HINDUPUR: Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy inaugurated the two-day passport mela here on Friday. It was a single-window opportunity for passport-seekers as all ancillary services were also provided at the mela. All those willing to visit other countries for studies, employment or as tourists could apply for passport in the mela, he said.

Getting passport was very difficult some years back but it had been simplified now with relaxation in the guidelines. The melas would also create awareness about passport getting process, he stated.

Regional Passport Officer, Hyderabad, B. Bala Bhaskar said they had already conducted 20 such melas across the State and had very good response from the people. The melas were being held on the requests of local members of Parliament. The mela has ancillary services like banking, special branch, notary and other and it was aimed at creating awareness about various reforms introduced in the passport issuance system.

Middle men

It was also aimed at removing the role of middle men and brokers, expenditure to the applicants and to bring passport services closer to common man. Hindupur MP G. Nizamuddin said his constituency had considerable Muslim population and the number of Haj pilgrims from the area was increasing every year.

Those willing to go on Haj in the coming years could get the passport now, he said.

About 3,000 applications were sold on the first day. Zilla Parishad Chairperson T. Kavitha, Municipal Chairperson J.E. Anil Kumar and others also participated.

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