More than 79K passports issued in March; Bengaluru tops list in Karnataka, Mangaluru second
Applications for new passports, renewal increase post-pandemic
Bengaluru: The Regional Passport Office (RPO) here issued its highest number of passports in Karnataka – 79,027 – in the month of March, to new applicants and to people who applied for a renewal.
The Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in Bengaluru issued the maximum number of passports in the state in March, with the PSKs in Mangaluru, Hubballi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru following, reports Times of India.
The application for passports had fallen drastically following the outbreak of Covid and the ban on international travel. Post-pandemic, however, the number of new applicants as well as people seeking renewal of their passports started steadily rising.
While the PSKs found it difficult to handle the high number of applications due to shortage of staff in 2021, currently, appointments for new passports and certificates for police clearance are made available at least once a week.
“Since early 2022, there is a steady hike in passport applications, the number of which has risen as people have been travelling overseas for jobs and tourism. On a daily basis, the PSK in Lalbagh receives an average of more than 1,700 applications and the process is completed for more than 1,500. At the Marathalli PSK, we get 850 applications, process about 800 applications and issue the passports every day,” said Krishna K, IFS officer at the Bengaluru RPO.
Nearly 55,000 passports were processed in Karnataka in March 2022, after the Covid problem. The number steadily increased through the year, and the period between October and December 2022 witnessed an issuance of as high as 1,97,018 passports.
Between January and March this year, up to 2,14,788 passports are learned to have been issued. The number is only expected to increase through the year.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
ALSO READ: Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
