Balasore, Feb. 13: The regional passport office, Bhubaneswar, today began a two-day camp here for applicants of Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak districts.

Regional passport officer Digvijay Giri said: "For the first time, the camp is being organised in Balasore. Physical verification of documents is being done at the camp. The eligible applicants will be issued the passport after police verification, which take maximum a month, provided they fill in all correct details."

The camp has a target to verify and clear as many as 350 eligible applicants online. And the target was achieved on the first day itself. The applicants were required to deposit a fee of Rs 1,500 on February 8.

"Passport verification is being taken up on the first-come-first-served basis. The applicants were informed about date and time of appointment after successful logging and verification," said passport officer Manoj Mishra.

"Earlier, the passport applicants had to run from pillar to post to get a passport. But now, it has become easier due to the online service. Today, the service has come to doorstep," said Balasore district collector Pramod Das.

"Nowadays, people go abroad frequently on vacation trips as airfares to some countries have become cheaper and flight connectivity has also become more accessible," he said.

"Earlier, the applicants had to travel to Bhubaneswar and spend the whole day for passport verification. This regional camp saves both cost as well as time for the people of Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts," said local MP R.K. Jena.

However, the camp that was supposed to begin at 9am got delayed for more than two hours due to failure of the BSNL's broadband services. It caused inconvenience to both the passport applicants, who came from far off areas as well as the passport department officials.