The Police will now verify passports in seven days

Representation pic

After Andhra Pradesh and Telangana police, who verify passports in three days time, Pune and Mumbai police will also do the same in a span of seven days, the secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, Dnyaneshwar Muley, has said.

On Sunday, Muley was in Pune for an event organised by the Vidisha Vichar Manch. Muley said, "The Andhra Pradesh and Telangana police verify passports in three days and we will be working on an effective co-relationship between the police and passport department similarly. In other states and Maharashtra about 20 days go into police verification. We are working on the technology and on employee efficiency to bring this down to seven days. In coming weeks this time span of police verification will go down to seven days."

Muley further mentioned that the 180th passport office in the country was started in Gir. Around 251 such offices will begin all over the country by the end of this month, Muley said and added that this followed the support of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. He also said, "There is a need to change the mindset of the people. Of the country's 125 crore people, only 5 to 6 crore, which means 5% have a passport."

20
Number of days used in Maharashtra and other states for police verification of passports currently

Also read: Police verification for passport in Mumbai to become quicker

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