At least 165,000 passport seekers, who had applied for passports, in the last three months, to go abroad for jobs or medical treatment, are in serious trouble, due to delay in getting machine-readable passports (MRPs), because of delays in importing passport booklets, and lengthy process of police verification. As a result, a vested quarter is trying to fish in the troubled waters, creating an anarchic situation at the passport offices, by organising demonstrations by irate applicants, who have not got MRPs in due time, sources in the passport department said. Of the 165,000 applicants, 65,000 are for new passports, pending before the passport offices across the country, for more than three months, due to lengthy process of police verification with an uncertain future, leading to frustrations among the applicants, the sources added. Everyday, new passport seekers are thronging the various passport offices in the districts and regional offices, even in the capital, in search of their passports to their promised lands. But, they are going back frustrated, without knowing when they would get the little book from the authorities concerned, the sources informed.
In this context, the principal secretary to the Prime Ministry is holding an exclusive meeting with officials of the home ministry, and the passport and immigration department, on August 8, to resolve the crisis, within the shortest possible time.
A top official of the passport and immigration department told this correspondent that the department had opened a letter of credit (LC) to import 22 lakh passport booklets from the IRIS JV in Poland. The JV company, under the agreement, is scheduled to supply 6.6 million MRPs, within five years. “But, the company supplied only three lakh MRP booklets, because of unexplained reasons,” he said.
Mohammad Abdul Mabud, director-general of the passport and immigration department said they are communicating with the authorities of the foreign company to supply the required MRPs.
“They assured us that they will send the MRP booklets, immediately, by air freight,” he said.
He also said that they could not issue a number of MRPs, because of non-availability of police verification reports, within the stipulated time, to provide the passports.
A new passport is supposed to be issued in 15 days for a fee of Tk. 3,000, while the emergency in seven days, at a fee of Tk. 6,000.
“We must take emergency measures to remove the gridlock, so that we can issue new passports to people, as early as possible,” he said.
A senior official of the passport department said that at least 26 lakh MRPs have been issued till date.
MRPs were introduced in the country on April 1, 2010, to speed up clearance and improve security for the travellers. The fee for obtaining an MRP, on an emergency basis, is Tk. 6,000, while a normal passport costs Tk. 3,000.
-With The Daily Star input
