E-passports to be introduced in India by next year

Stating that it would be a great responsibility and opportunity as well as challenge for the passport officials, he said, “We have to scale up and expand our services and have to bring in more efficiency within our passport officials and we always have to be innovative.”

Regional Passport Officer (RPO) K Srikar Reddy said the trial for hand-held devices (palm-top computers) for police constables, enabling online police verification at citizens' doorstep is presently on in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and now it is contemplated to start it on a pilot basis under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate here and later to other parts of the state and country.

Hyderabad tops the list of RPOs in terms of the number of applications processed and services rendered at 6.4 lakh and 6.3 lakh, respectively, with 8.9 per cent of total passport services in the country, Reddy said.

He added that Visakhapatnam, with 11 days, tops the list of RPOs on time taken in police verification.

Country's second Passport Seva Laghu Kendras (Mini PSKs) will be inaugurated tomorrow in Karimnagar district, he said.