I had just finished my graduation and before joining Indian Space Research Organization, I applied for my first passport so to avoid any clearance I would need after becoming a government employee. Yes, its a bit strange here in India that if you are a government employee, you will need a no objection certificate from your office to get a passport.
I very distinctly remember that day when I reached passport office to submit my application. There was a long queue and after queuing for almost 4 hours, by the time I reached the submission window, the office time was over. I came back to this office at 4am next morning and my turn came at 1pm noon. I submitted the application and passport fees and I was told that I would get my passport in next 90 days. Almost after two months of this application, a police verification for my application happened and my neighbors endorsed my character. A month after this inquiry, I received my passport in mail and I was so happy to have it.
August 2000:
My first passport was going to be expired in Sep 2000 and thus, I applied for a new passport in August 2000. The situation at the passport office was unchanged except that delivery period was reduced to 45 days. Same long queue and same manual system. Agents dominated this place but I did not have money for them. As I was due to fly to US that time, I applied for a "Tatkal" passport scheme in which I had to pay additional fees to get my passport in 7 working days. The additional fee was almost double to standard fee but I was prepared for that. I applied somewhere in second week of August 2000 and I had to approach city police commissioner for my police verification. After a week, I collected my second passport from passport office.
Jan 2008:
When I returned from LA/SG in last November, I realized that immigration stamps during many entries/exits in this had left very few blank pages in my passport which was to expire in August 2010. As three more years had to pass and few foreign trips are already lined up, I had to get an additional passport booklet for new visas to be issued. I enquired with my travel agent and he filled up necessary forms for me. Since applicant had to personally submit the application, I reached passport office (which was now relocated to a spacious place) was not crowded at all and I did not face any long queue. The officer at the window refused my application saying that I had to apply online! Now that's something NEWS for me. So, next day, I applied online at https://passport.gov.in/pms/OnlineRegistration.jsp and without much difficulties, I finished the registration in next 5 minutes.
The auto-generated appointment time for the submission of supporting documents was fixed on Thursday, Jan 31st at 12:30pm. During the application, I selected to pay the fee in cash during submission time.
On Jan 31st, I reached the office at 12:00pm and when my turn came, the officer there informed me that their automatic account system was down and they were not accepting cash fees. I was told to get a pay order of Rs. 1000 for this application.
I went to all nearby banks and they all were crowded by my type of applicants and after almost two hours, I could manage to get a pay order. When I presented this pay order and my application, looking at my application, the officer got confused. He said that my passport is not near its expiry and I have to come after three years! I told him that my passport has only few blank pages left and I want to apply for an additional booklet. He then went to his manager to confirm about this and on return, he told me that he can accept my application but there is an additional fee to be paid....
So, I again went to few banks and could manage to get an additional pay order in one hour. When the officer accepted my application, he told me that I would get my booklet sent to me in next three working days. At first, I thought he was trying to be good to me and I asked him again about the delivery date. He reconfirmed it to be three working days for processing and two days to reach my home via post. was skeptical about it and made up my mind to wait for at least a month if not more.
To my surprise, on 7th Feb, I received an envelope from Passport office.
If you enlarge above picture of the back of the envelope, you will notice post office stamp dated Feb 06 2008!
Upon opening the envelope and checking the booklet, I noticed that instead of providing me an additional booklet, the office just issued me a new passport (my third one). It and This new passport has more pages and will expire in 2018... I felt happy and surprised not only that I got my passport so fast but also for the fact that its a new passport valid for next 10 years. Further to this happiness, the new passport is "printed" one and not like my earlier passports which were handwritten... These handwritten passports had created lots of problems at airports and most all times, airport security called the supervisors for passport verification!
I am impressed that my country finally has opted for the use of technology in such areas and now, its progressing towards better governance. I know its very difficult to have everything systematic in India like other countries, but it is definitely not impossible. I am impressed that government departments now value for the time of citizens and they are trying to make the life easy.
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