Pune: Good response to Pimpri POPSK but ‘wait time a pain’

The appointment availability cycle in Mundhwa Passport Seva Kendra is 20 days.

It means that if you try to book an appointment via normal category, you will get it for 20 days later. However, the same for POPSK in Pimpri is 60 days.

The POPSK, which was opened on April 2, has a capacity of processing 400 applications per day, but it’s currently processing only 50 applications daily.

This has had an adverse impact on the appointment availability cycle.

The long waiting time at POPSK is prompting the applicants to choose PSK Mundhwa where the waiting time is comparatively short.

“Since it’s still a new centre, it’s understandable that there would be some issues. Although I stay in Nigdi, I chose Mundhwa PSK to submit my documents instead of Pimpri because of the long waiting time,” said Suhas Raj, a marketing professional who stays in Nigdi.

Atul Gotsurve, Regional Passport Officer (RPO) for Pune, conceded that the waiting time at the POPSK was long and there was a need to shorten it up to maintain the popularity of the centre.

“We have a capacity to process 400 applications per day. We will need to do some software work before we can increase the daily processing from the present speed of 50 applications per day,” said Gotsurve.

He added that from next week onward the number of applications processed daily will double to 100. “Next week, we will make it 100 and then slowly increase it to 400 to meet the demand,” said Gotsurve.