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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 27 - The Thiruvananthapuram passport office, which receives the maximum number of applications for new passports, is struggling for space. In this age of technological innovation, its staff is doing its best by working with old computers.
Passport Officer K.P. Madhusoodhan told IANS Wednesday that he and his staff were doing their best to meet deadlines.
'On an average, we receive more than 700 fresh applications for passports daily and we issue around 600 new passports and clear 300 other cases of issuing police clearance certificates and similar issues. Every day, the crowds are increasing and space is a problem because we moved into this office in 1992,' said Madhusoodhan.
In the last calendar year, the office issued 133,926 new passports, settled 26,283 miscellaneous passport issues and issued 28,250 passports under the 'tatkal' scheme.
A few delegations from the external affairs minister's office have visited and seen for themselves the congestion at the office.
Following this, a plot of land has been identified near the Technopark campus for the construction of a new spacious passport office.
'On quite a few occasions, the police had to be called in to maintain peace after the crowds lost patience because they have been waiting for long. A computer snag throws things out of control and everything gets delayed,' said an employee, requesting anonymity.
Enquiries revealed that the computers in the office here are more than 15 years old and when a breakdown occurs, it is difficult to rectify it because of the equipment is outdated.
'Currently, on an average a new passport is issued within 55 to 60 days after the receipt of the application,' said Madhusoodhan.
There are 81 staff members and despite all the shortcomings they do their job. They even cut down their lunch break and work till 8 p.m.
Kerala is the only state in the country to have four full fledged passport offices which are Kochi, Kozhikode and Malappuram besides the Thiruvananthapuram one.
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