‘Unending’ formalities annoy passport applicants

Several people whose passports were damaged in last year’s devastating floods, Friday alleged that authorities at Passport Office here were delaying issuance of their travelling document on flimsy grounds.
Rouf Ahmad Pampori of Housing Colony Bemina said he has been making rounds of Passport Office for past three months.
“My passport along with that of my wife got damaged in the floods. As the authorities announced that new passports in such cases would be issued on fast track basis, we also applied for its duplicate,” said Pampori. “I submitted all the required documents and was asked to come on a particular day for photographs to be taken by officials for duplicate copy of passport. As I reached Passport Office, I was asked to bring police report from concerned police station that our passports were damaged in the floods,” he said.
He added that he was made to make rounds repeatedly on one pretext or the other. “Every time, I was asked to bring this or that document. One fails to understand as to why officials don’t ask for all the required documents on very first day,” he rued. Many aggrieved applicants told the same story with minor alterations in their ‘sufferings’.
Passport Officer (Srinagar), Firdous Iqbal agreed to views that officials should inform the applicants on the very first day about the required necessary documents to avoid any unnecessary inconvenience to them. “Officials here (at Passport Office) are delivering their duties up to the satisfaction of people. However, if any person has any grievance, he should approach my office and I assure redressal of the problem,” Iqbal added.