Indian missions across the world to issue passports in less than 48 hours soon: V K Singh
Washington, Nov 25: Indian missions across the world would soon issue passports in less than 48 hours to citizens abroad, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said here.
Addressing a gathering after launching the 'Passport Seva' project at the Indian Embassy here on Saturday, he said the passport offices at Indian missions have been digitally linked with the data centre back home, which would speed up the process of issuing passport.
Earlier this week, the Indian mission at New York issued passports in less than 48 hours. "This is going to happen across the world," Singh said, handing over passports issued under the new project to citizens abroad.
Asserting that in the coming days India will have the best passport services in the world, the minister said there has been a major simplification of rules and regulations for passport applicants and verification of a lot of information of the applicants would be done digitally.
The 'Passport Seva' project was first launched in the UK last month.
In US, the project was first rolled out in New York on November 21, followed by Washington on Saturday. It would be subsequently launched in Indian Consulates at Atlanta, Houston, Chicago and San Francisco.
After the UK and the US, the project would be extended to all the Indian missions across the globe, Singh said.
Navtej Singh Sarna, Indian Ambassador to the US, who was also present at the launch, said, "This is actually going to quantitatively and qualitatively improve our passport services immensely, both in the scope of the applications that can be handled and also in the way they will be handled and the way they will be integrated into the overall much better consular services."
The minister said in the next few months, the Indian government will issue a new set of passports, the design of which have already been approved.
The new passports will have all kind of security features and better printing and paper quality, Singh said.
However, "there will be no change in the colour of the Indian passport," he clarified.
Singh further said by March "our effort is to have 500 passport offices or centres across India" to ensure that "no citizen in India has to travel more than 50-60 km to apply for a passport". Currently the number stands at 336.
Later in the evening, Singh was felicitated by the local Indian community at a reception hosted by the National Council of Asian Indian associations in collaboration with other Indian community organisations.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
