Voter card? Yes. Aadhar card? Yes. Passport? Hell no!

Rahul Mishras passport application is in the doldrums because of the police refusal to grant him clearance PicNimesh DaveThe left hand it appears is not coordinating with the right hand So even as the Ministry of External Affairs is making every effort to streamline the process of procuring passport the Mumbai Police is sitting and planting obstacles Case in point 23yearold Rahul MishraA consultant for TCS he has been running from pillar to post to procure his passport but has been roadblocked by the MHB Colony police station that is refusing to clear his police verification because he lives in a slum this despite producing all mandatory documents like Aadhar and PAN cardCriterion met but declinedIn June Rahul submitted all the required documents with a letter of authenticity from TCS to the passport office which was accepted and he was given an appointment for police verification However after he submitted the documents there his application was rejected and the status showed that it was due to incomplete submission of documents during police verification But shockingly he never got the call for it to begin withTo clarify Mishra then approached the police station and was handed the doozy They couldnt clear his verification because he was residing in an illegal slum I have all the documents that are required I submitted my Aadhar card voter ID card PAN card and bank statement to the police First when I asked them why it was incomplete they said that I have to also submit my electricity bill which I checked was not compulsory After I confronted them again they finally accepted that they dont issue passport to slum dwellers from Ganpat Patil Nagar said MishraI have been working with TCS for almost four years and they do strict verification of candidates before hiring They would never have appointed me if I was a shady character My only mistake is that I live in a slum added MishraCops standSuyog Kamble public regional officer of the police station responsible for the verification stated The slum dwellers from the area are residing on illegal land So we dont issue passports to them said KambleCan they do itHowever according to a senior passport officer from Mumbai Irrespective of where they live the passport department issues passports Had he not been eligible we would have rejected his application and not processed it for police verification The responsibility of police is just to check if the applicant has any criminal records and his residence They are not responsible for deciding if he should be issued a certificate or not said a senior officer from Mumbai passport department seeking anonymityIncidentally even if an applicant is residing in a disputed area the verification officer simply needs to write that the applicant resides in a disputed area but his criminal record is clean following which the passport department makes the final call When midday posted this to officer Kamble he changed tack and insisted thats what he had written in his response and it was the department that refused the passportCorrective measuresWe are working with companies that have international hands and it gives us an opportunity to go abroad But if the police doesnt clear our documents how will we ever get out of here questioned Mishra adding If we are given voter ID card to cast our votes under the constitution then why not a passport After requesting the passport department he has now been issued another appointment on for police verification for which he submitted documents on Sunday This time Kamble has assured him he will look into the matterWhat is the criterion for a passportAccording to the passport department any person who is a citizen of India and has documents like Aadhar card voter ID card bank statement of his account or PAN card with no records of criminal activity is eligible