Travel Agents Association of India request Passport Officer to speedup passport issuing process
Presented memorandum as a measure to facilitate smooth services for citizens
Tweet-- Addressing the concerns of the consumers, the members of AP Chapter of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) met the regional passport officer Mr. G. Srinivas today at his office. The Association presented the Officer with a memorandum detailing the concerns most people are facing with the application for a passport. They have requested him to look into the procedures and format in which the application and its status communication are conducted.
Few of the issues presented to Mr. G.Srinivas are:
· The procedures of accepting the applications by demand draft had commenced very recently and the last three months of its operation, it has been found to be very cumbersome and difficult procedure to follow for the Agents while submitting the application. As it is mandatory to purchase DDs from one of the specific Nationalized Banks, the process of acquiring the demand draft itself is colossal task. It is, therefore, requested that the earlier procedure of accepting cash at the counter may be reinstated for the benefit of all concerned.
· It is mandatory for Travel Agents to update their customers on the status of their applications and hence agents request to upgrade the services by giving latest information while making enquiries at the Enquiry Counter to facilitate the Travel Agents to efficiently get the information from your office.
· A long standing request from the Travel Agents who submit passports and it was also agreed a couple of years back when the earlier Regional Passport Officer – Mr. Shrawan Kumar has consented to permit the Travel Agents to submit the applications under Tatkal Scheme. This is an essential part of the submission process as the number of applications being submitted under Tatkal scheme has increased considerably. Hence request to permit authorized Travel Agent to submit the Passports under Tatkal scheme without the presence of the applicants.
· It has been found that there is a major delay in receipt of Passports i.e. for new passports; renewal and the miscellaneous services which are sometimes even between 3 to 4 months. It may be noted that though earlier there was a commitment by the Then Regional Passport Officer that passports could be received within 30 to 45 days from the date of application and a very short duration for miscellaneous services applications was also promised to the customers as well as Travel Agents.
· An increase of applications for submission from 5 to 10 was earlier discussed and also under consideration. This may be implemented at the earliest.
Mr. Vijay Mohanraj, Chairman, AP Chapter-TAAI said, “As travel agents it is our utmost priority to facilitate comfortable services for customers and this memorandum is one of the steps we have taken as members of AP Chapter”
Notes to Editor
About Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI):
The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) was formed towards the end of the year 1951 by a group of twelve leading Travel agents, who felt the need to create an association to regulate the Travel industry in India. The primary purpose was to protect the interests of those engaged in the industry, to promote its orderly growth and development and to safeguard the rights of the traveling public. TAAI represents all that is professional, ethical and dynamic in our nation's Travel related activity and has been recognized as the voice of the Travel and Tourism industry in India.