Hyderabad, August 20: More than one lakh applications are pending in the Regional Passport Office, said the regional passport officer, Dr Srikar Reddy, while addressing the press. He said all pending passports will be dispatched within two months.
Employees at the RPO are working overtime and even on Saturdays to ensure this, Mr Srikar Reddy said. In August alone around 30,000 passports have been dispatched and the passport office hopes to clear the backlog and dispatch around 55,000 passports this month, the RPO said.Dr Reddy said his office had received 1,89,725 applications till July 31, and 47,928 of them were awaiting police verification. While there were adverse police reports on 20,892, nearly 26,800 applications were objected to by passport officials for improper documents.
The large number of pending applications is because of a huge growth in applications, which see an annual increase of 20 per cent. The RPO however has limited manpower.
In 2010 alone, the RPO received an unprecedented 4.54 lakh applications, an annual increase of 32 per cent. The disposal of applications also increased by 21 per cent over 2009.
Some 69,625 passports were issued under the Tatkal scheme, an increase of 26 per cent over 2009. Total revenue generated was `52.6 crore, he said.
-Agencies