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Friday 31 May 2013

Three-hour Passport Adalat sees low attendance : Bangalore

She negotiates the stairs, using a pair of crutches as support, hope writ on her face. It's the second time that Dr Rajaswi Pujar, a physically challenged medical student from Mysore, was coming all the way to Bangalore's regional passport office in Koramangala along with her uncle, simply to know the status of her passport. And she was in for a shock on Wednesday.

Rajaswi's police verification had been done over a year ago. "We have been assured by the local police station in Mysore and in Bijapur where her mother stays that the verification certificate was already submitted to the passport office," Rajaswi's uncle told the official.

  When the official typed in her ARN number, he found the verification certificate hadn't yet been uploaded. Rajaswi was shocked that personnel in the office of the Mysore police commissioner had misguided her. On Wednesday, the Passport Adalat saw the likes of Rajaswi who had been made to run from pillar to post for no fault of theirs. Most of those who attended the adalat were from other districts. Although the adalat was open from 10am to 1pm, just over 100 people arrived with their problems.

Like Vinod Kumar who rushed from Gulbarga, only to get an appointment to appear at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). "In my place, touts are waiting to hunt people like us who are either applying or renewing passports. I did not want to be fleeced by agents nor was I getting an online appointment. Here the appointment was given to me in a minute without much hassle," he told TOI. He is planning to go abroad for employment by end of June.

Raju BR, a cook from Nagamangala taluk in Mandya who is travelling to Singapore, was also there to expedite his passport application. Ditto with Batul Unnissa, retired government school teacher from Hiriyur taluk in Chitradurga district, who has been chasing officials since 2011 to get her passport. "In the struggle to get a passport and go for Haj, my husband passed away. Now the officials have another reason to trouble me. I have furnished the death certificate of my husband and the officials still ask me to get more papers. What else should I do?" she cried.

Officials said that most decisions which are not made at the PSKs are being handled at the adalat so that all backlog can be cleared. "Only few complicated cases or cases which have a legal tangle to it are coming to me, other decisions are being taken by the assistant RPO officials at the spot," said Madan Gopal Reddy, outgoing RPO.

NO INSIDERS IN RACKET, SAY OFFICIALS

"We have not received any evidence to prove that officials in RPO have colluded with touts to give appointments to ease passport verification. But I have written to CCB and CBI to find evidence. CCB had already arrested three touts before I took charge," said Madan Gopal Reddy, outgoing RPO. He also said that CCTVs will be installed in all PSKs. BSNL is yet to give technologically fool-proof system to install all CCTVs of all the PSKs. He added "We request people to avoid going to agents. They can apply through Bangalore One or Karnataka One centres. They can get their work done with just Rs15 and walk straight into the offices to get their passport processed," said Reddy.

 WE ARE SHORTSTAFFED: OFFICIALS

There are merely 71 officials of ministry of external affairs in Karnataka. Of these, 33 in Bangalore deal with passport issuance in the RPO and two PSKs in Lalbagh and Marathahalli. Hubli PSK has just two officials."There are hundreds of applicants daily at the PSK but only a handful of officials. How can we clear the backlog and complicated cases? The officials get irritated after attending to some 50-60 applicants in a day, and are not able to even talk to their colleagues," said an official.

Petitioner to submit details

Adivision bench headed by Chief Justice D H Waghela on Wednesday asked the petitioner, an advocate, to furnish instances wherein the scrutiny branch of the high court had raised unnecessary and irrelevant objections in relation to the subject matter of the petitions filed.

The bench asked advocate N P Amrutesh to submit to them the details in three weeks. The petitioner claims that those appointed in the scrutiny branch lack specialization/ experience and do not even possess knowledge about rules. "Those performing jobs there do not have a legal background, many of them are only SSLC-PUC educated, as they are promotees from attender-peon posts," the petitioner claimed.


Source : TOI , 30th May 2013 

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