Balasore: The Union ministry of external affairs accorded clearance to set up a passport seva kendra here, which had been a long-standing demand of residents of north Odisha. The unit will operate from the head post office in the town.

Regional passport officer Digvijay Giri said infrastructure feasibility for the Balasore office had been verified, and the department had a plan of opening the centre within two weeks.

"Since the centre would operate from the head post office, it has to be equipped with infrastructure facilities. The equipment to set up the centre have arrived and will be installed shortly. The manpower, in the initial phase, will be provided from the Bhubaneswar office," said Giri.

"Every day, 40 applications will be scrutinised. Under the standard operating procedure, the passports will be issued from the Bhubaneswar regional office after police verification. Besides Balasore, the residents of neighbouring Bhadrak can also avail themselves of the service here."

Keeping in view the huge demand for passports, local MP R.K. Jena had written to the ministry in September 2015 for opening a laghu passport kendra in Balasore town. In October 2015, the ministry had agreed to extend the service through camps.

Accordingly, the first camp had been held in February last year. Later, two more camps - one in October 2016 and another in January this year - were organised in the district. About 1,500 applications had been processed during these camps. Chief of head post office, Balasore, Bishnu Prasad Dash said: "A team from the Bhubaneswar passport office has inspected the earmarked building for the centre. The infrastructure are ready to cater to its requirement."

Motorcycle accident

One person died in an accident involving two motorcycles on the NH-16 near Bahanaga block on Saturday. Two others were injured. The deceased has been identified as Kalia Sethi of Patharapentha village. After the accident, a mob blocked the national highway. The police later cleared it.