The Telangana police has won two awards for best performance in passport police verification and delivery of passport services for the year 2017-2018.
While the national average for verification of passport for the given time period was 21 days, Telangana police completed the verification process in 4 days, Hyderabad Regional Passport Officer E Vishnu Vardhan Reddy told the media.
Furthermore, it was announced that the Hyderabad Regional Passport Office stood first in its overall performance and issued more than 5 lakh passports each year.
The awards will be presented by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the annual Passport Seva Divas and Passport Officers’ Conference in New Delhi on June 26.
In addition, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in order to simplify the passport verification process, has stated that police verification for passport applicants will only be required for those with criminal antecedents.
“There is no need for physical verification by visiting the address of the applicant,” said Reddy addressing media personnel.
It has been speculated that the simplified process will make it easier for students travelling abroad to obtain their passports with ease.
The Ministry also approved the integration of the ‘VeriFast’ application for passport verification with the Passport Seva System, a method currently used by Telangana state police and would be integrated with the Passport Seva System by the end of June.
Earlier this year, the Punjagutta Police Station in Hyderabad stood second in the Centre’s rankings, after a survey conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Quality Council of India.
In a press release at the time, the Telangana police explained that the Union Government had developed a uniform model of ranking police stations in the country and identified 10 best police stations.
"The basic objective of the survey is to improve quality of policing and make it citizen-friendly. Since the formation of Telangana, the Chief Minister’s vision of enhancing standards of service delivery by institutionalising effective and sustainable systems through use of technology, process initiatives and community partnerships in policing has gained recognition," the police said in a statement.