Bhubaneswar Passport Mela in February

Bhubaneswar regional passport office here will organize passport fairs on February 2 and February 23 in view of high demand for passports. The passport office expects to receive around 1,100 applications on these two holidays.

Applicants, who intend to apply for regular passports, are required to approach the passport seva kendra (PSK) at the passport office in Nayapalli, with printouts of ARN (application reference number) sheet after registering on www.passportindia.gov.in.

“We will receive applications for regular passports only. Taktal applications will not be processed on these two dates,” regional passport officer Padma Mahanti said.

“Applicants should come with all requisite documents in original. For the two dates, appointment time will be given in the website on January 31 and February 21. To avoid chaos, applicants are advised to come at the time given to them,” Mahanti said.

“Receipt and delivery of passports have been streamlined since the introduction of PSK last year. Steps are being taken to conduct passport mela at regular intervals to address the rush of normal passport seekers,” the passport officer said.

The passport office receives around 350 passport applications on a given day and dispatches equal number of passports everyday. The office often witnesses serpentine queues, forcing many applicants to knock on the door of travel agencies and take help of touts to get passports. Regular passport applicants suffer because the PSK handles a lot of Tatkal applications, which need rigorous scrutiny and verification.