OREANDA-NEWS. With the establishment of Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in Delhi and Gurgaon under the jurisdiction of RPO Delhi, and in Ghaziabad under the jurisdiction of the RPO Ghaziabad, the Ministry of External Affairs has taken assertive steps to deliver passport services to citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible and reliable manner.

Reviewing the operations over the last one year, it was observed that large numbers of applicants were not turning up at the PSKs despite taking valid appointment. This was not only resulting in lesser utilisation of processing capacity of the PSK, but was also causing denial of appointments for other genuine applicants. To resolve the issue of non-availability of appointments and to reduce no-shows of applicants, the ministry has launched online payment system for booking appointments.

With launch of online payment-based appointments, applicants will be required to make payment at the time of booking appointment on the MEA website. With this, only genuine applicants will book the appointment and the number of no-shows will reduce. Under the new process, payments can be made while booking an appointment on the website - www.passportindia.gov.in either by credit/debit card (both Master and Visa) or internet banking of State Bank of India. Applicants can also use the challan option provided on the website and deposit the money in State Bank of India (SBI) branch after generating a challan online. In such cases, upon the confirmation of payment receipt by SBI in online system, applicants can take appointment.

Further, instead of applicant choosing the date and time slot of appointment, system will automatically give earliest available appointment. Online payment system will be applicable for taking appointments for PSKs in Delhi w.e.f June 21, 2013 onwards. The new system will be gradually rolled out to all PSKs across the country in coming weeks. As part of MEA's e-governance initiatives, the Passport Seva Project (PSP) has transformed the passport issuance system across India through an increased network of 77 PSKs.

The ministry is improving governance in passport offices by focusing on citizen-centricity, service orientation and transparency. Other benefits of the Passport Seva Project include: Longer working hours to benefit the citizens 24*7 call centre support in 17 languages Complete digitisation and processing of application when applicant visits the PSK, reducing the overall time spent and eliminating multiple visits Biometric data and photographs taken in a highly secure environment Granting decision taken in front of the applicant, therefore greater transparency Citizens leave the PSK with certainty on the status of their application Transparency in the process and online real-time availability of data for ease of monitoring and decision making.