Chandigarh police verifies 46,000 passports in 15 days

For completing over 46,000 passport verifications in less than 15 days, the Chandigarh police have earned an incentive of approximately Rs 70 lakh in the past eight months. Instead of crediting the earned Rs 70 lakh incentives into the state treasury of the Chandigarh administration, police will now directly claim them.

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Sector 34, Chandigarh, offers a Rs 150 incentive for each police verification completed within 15 days. RPO periodically releases these incentives to the respective states/UTs. The UT police have significantly reduced the verification time for passport applications to less than three days and, in many instances, within 24 hours since the launch of the mPassport mobile application in June 2022.

Sources said that earlier, manual verification process took 10 to 12 days, with a daily backlog of 800 to 900 applications. At present, the backlog is only 2 to 3 days, with over 46,000 verifications completed within 15 days. The UT police’s decision to direct incentives into its account aligns with the practice in Delhi and Punjab, where police have already credited incentives to their accounts instead of allowing them to go into the state treasury.

DSP (CID) Ram Gopal Dagar said, “The RPO grants a Rs 150 incentive for each police verification completed within 15 days of application submission. Earlier, these incentives were deposited into the state treasury of UT administration without assurance of their use for police welfare. After discussions with senior police officers, including DGP (UT) Praveer Ranjan, and the UT Finance department, it was decided that the incentives would be credited to the UT police account.”

However, despite the accelerated police verification process in Chandigarh, challenges persist for passport applicants. Observers of passport affairs said that there is a substantial rush and visible lines at the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Sector 34. The RPO staff struggle to handle the rush, with appointments unavailable for extended periods, and there is a lack of guidance for individuals without prior appointments.

For the latest news from across India, Political updates, Explainers, Sports News, Opinion, Entertainment Updates and more Top News, visit Indian Express. Subscribe to our award-winning Newsletter Download our App here Android & iOS