Berhampur: Local MP Siddhant Mahapatra on Monday inaugurated a passport seva kendra on the premises of head post office here.
Earlier, people of Ganjam and Gajapati districts used to depend on the passport office in Bhubaneswar. "With launching of the Berhampur centre, they won't have to travel such a long distance to get the service. I must thank the postal department for the help and co-operation to open the passport centre here," Mahapatra said.
Berhampur regional passport officer Digvijay Giri said: "The new facility would save time and travel cost of the local people. After submission of the application, the kendra, which will become operational from tomorrow, would ensure that an applicant need not travel to Bhubneswar for the purpose. We have trained two postal department employees, who would process the applications. However, the Bhubaneswar office will do the scanning, printing and lamination of the passports. We will provide the passport to the people within one month subject to certificate verification. One can get his or her passport three days after the police verification," Giri said.
"The businessmen, corporate executives, students, overseas job-seekers, tourists and pilgrims from Ganjam and Gajapati districts and its neighbourhood areas would benefit from the kendra. All the troubles faced by them in getting passport related services earlier would now be removed at the local level," he said.
The external affairs ministry and the department of posts had last year announced their decision to utilise the head post offices in the various states as the post office passport seva kendras for delivering passport related services to the people. The partnership aims to extend passport services on a larger scale and ensure wider area coverage, sources said.
The Berhampur centre was thrown open in the second phase of the scheme after Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had requested external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in this regard in June last year, said Ganjam unit BJP president Kanhu Charan Pati.
