Passport booklet shortage continues; over 15,000 applicants wait anxiously in Mangalore

Mangalore, Jul 10: A severe shortage of passport booklets has forced thousands of people to put on hold plans to travel abroad, particularly people in the state seeking employment in the Gulf emirates and Saudi Arabia.

A huge backlog has been created because India Security Press, in Nashik, Maharashtra, which prints various government documents including passports, visas and postage stamps, has since the start of this year suspended production of passports for weeks at a stretch several times owing to a shortage in import of laminated sheets required to make the 36-page booklets.

The import shortfall, officials said, was a result of suppliers not being able to meet orders in time for laminated sheets with new security features. The halts in production at the Nashik press, the only facility in the country that produces passports, has left tens of thousands of applicants in regional passport offices (RPOs) in limbo. Apart from job-seekers, several of the applicants awaiting their passports need to go abroad for medical treatment, officials said.

The Bangalore Regional Passport Office has received more than 35,000 applications so far, sources said.

In Mangalore passport Seva Kendra (PSK) alone, over 15,000 applications are pending.

When contacted officials of Mangalore PSK, they said that the problem was affecting not only the people of Mangalore but also in the entire country, though in varying degrees. RPOs in Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad and places in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh continue to grapple with the huge backlog.

New applicants seeking passport are being required to justify their applications on grounds of emergency. “Passports are issued on an emergency basis with duly documented justification,”

the official said.

Officials at the regional passport office in the city said many job seekers and those are amongst those who have been affected due to the delay.

The delays are affecting Indian expatriates in the Gulf with officials at Indian diplomatic missions in the emirates having no option but to ask them to wait.

The Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi recently issued a press statement to inform Indian nationals who have applied or intend to apply for passport renewals about the shortage and delay.