Balasore, Sept. 11: A two-day passport camp was organised by the Regional Passport Office, Bhubaneswar, here at the office of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for people of Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts.

Regional passport officer Digvijay Giri said that during the two days, ending on Saturday, 304 passport applications were processed at the camp. The camp was held at the initiative of the Integrated Test Range, an establishment of DRDO, at Chandipur.

This is the second time the passport office organised a camp in the district. On February 13, a similar camp was organised under the initiative of local MP R.K. Jena.

Integrated Test Range director Binay Kumar Das said: "Our men remain busy in missile launching missions and find little time to obtain their passports. One has to travel to Bhubaneswar where the regional passport office is located. So, I had urged the ministry of external affairs to organise a special camp here."

"Earlier, applicants had to run from pillar to post to obtain a passport. But now, it has become easier because of online facilities. The facility has come to the doorstep. Not only DRDO staff, civilians too are availing themselves of the facility," he said.

Giri said there was a huge demand for passports in the state. Last year, the regional passport office had issued 1.04 lakh passports and this year, 8,77,000 passports have already been issued by September first week.

At the camp, officials conduct physical verification of documents. After verification of the papers, police verification is sought. Biometric impression capture and photography are done.

Police are supposed to submit their verification report within a month and then the passport is issued.