Patna, March 25: A passport adalat was organised at the local passport office today to speed up the disposal of pending applications for passport.

The applicants mostly erred in providing correct documents pertaining to the proof of date of birth, residential address, besides improper filling of forms, which led to non-delivery of passports.

Anindya Kumar, assistant passport officer, said: “Around 216 passport cases pertaining to non-providing of correct documents, such as date of birth, residential address besides improper filling of forms, which had led to the non-delivery of passports were cleared at the one-day adalat today.”

The passport adalat was organised from 10am to 1.30pm and applicants from all over the state had come with their pleas. Mohammad Moizur Rehman, a resident of Aliganj under Gaya district who had not received the applications told The Telegraph: “I had applied for the passport last year in March to go to Haj. A year has passed, but still I have not received it.”

Rehman said the passport office claimed that he did not get the passport as the office did not receive the police verification report. “However, the police station said they had sent the police verification report to the passport office in Patna,” he said.

Rehman is not an isolated case. There were more than 300 people who had come to the passport office with their pleas. According to the existing norms, an applicant should get his passport within three months after sending the application. In case people apply via the Tatkal process, they gets the passport faster.

Rajnikant Mahraj, a resident of Sonepur who had come with his plea said if a person goes via agent he gets the passport in a in time. “But if one goes through the official process, a very long time is spent. It is as if there exists a nexus between the passport office and agents,” Mahraj said.

The assistant passport officer said: “Lack of awareness among the people is the main reason why they face difficulty in getting their passport. The people often do not fill up the necessary information while filling up the forms. The passport office has been organising a series of events to create awareness but even that failed to educate the people the proper way of filling up the forms.”

Divulging details of various the steps taken by the department, Kumar said: “Earlier, the applicants used to approach the department with only residential proof. However, in the past six months, apart from residential proof, voters I-Card, pancard, ration card, driving license have become mandatory and in many cases the applications do not have them.”