Amid a confrontation between the AAP-led government in Punjab and Governor Banwarilal Purohit, the latter wrote to the Centre for a US consulate in Chandigarh. A statement by the Punjab Raj Bhawan said that the Governor has made a strong case in favour of Chandigarh-based consulate, keeping in view the growing demand of people from Punjab in India as well as in the US. In a letter to External Affairs Minister, the Governor mentioned that Punjabis are adventurous people who travel all over the world. They also form a sizeable segment of the Indian diaspora in the US. The speciality of this segment is that its members are conscious of their roots and are in constant touch with their people back at home in India. This makes a good case for a US consulate in Chandigarh which is the nerve centre of Punjabi culture. He referred to the demand for an additional consulate in India which is being pressed for even in the United States by influential Congressmen, which further bolsters the demand. The letter mentions that India has five consulates in the United States while the US has only four in India. The Governor said that if a US consulate is opened in Chandigarh, it will serve purpose to touch social, economic and cultural dimensions of the state and requested the Ministry of External Affairs to pursue this matter with appropriate American authorities. Purohit launches mPassport police app UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit launched mPassport police app for Chandigarh Police and digitisation of police services at UT Secretariat, Sector 9, on Friday. The mpassport police app was created by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in 2019 and has been linked to the Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) throughout the country. The app is a unified platform for all passport verifications in UT Chandigarh, which were earlier being done on mode, but will now be done through online mode. A total 32 dedicated cops have been posted in all 16 police stations for this purpose. All officials have been allotted tablets/phones for this purpose. Physical verification will be done through the devices by clicking photo of the applicant, uploading necessary documents online on the spot. This will reduce the paper use as well as speed up the verification process. DGP (UT) Praveer Ranjan said, "mPassport-enabled 32 tablets were alloted to 16 police stations. Now onwards, cops will visit the applicants' house and upload the necessary documents on the application instead of collecting the photocopies. As the application is connected with the RPO, uploaded documents will reach the department concerned. Although 15 days is the time frame to complete the passport verification, Chandigarh Police usually completes the verification process before 15 days." The main aim and objective of mPassport police app is to provide passport-related services to the Indian citizens in a speedy, convenient and transparent manners. Usually, the residents of Chandigarh apply for issuance of passport at Regional Passport Office, Sector 34, Chandigarh, and Passport Seva Kendra, plot no. 50, Industrial Area Phase-II, Chandigarh. Then the regional passport officer sends their applications online to the police station concerned, wherein after downloading the application, the beat staff conduct physical verification. After checking records, the SHO concerned sends the report to the passport branch through SDPO, which after scrutiny forwards it online to the RPO. This exercise is being done within a stipulated period of 15 days. Digitisation of other police services The Chandigarh Police has recently started many latest and modern technologies and new schemes to build a close bonding with the members of the public and to form stronger partnerships between police and the communities they serve. Additionally, four other services, viz. character verification, employee verification, tenant verification and servant verification, which were partly offline, have now been completely digitised and now available online. The 15 police services to the Citizens of Chandigarh have been digitised completely now. Rs 90L insurance claim cheque given to kin of woman constable UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit handed over the insurance claim cheque for Rs 90,00,000 to the family members of woman constable Sharda, who got killed in a road accident at Mani Majra on April 15. She left behind her two children - a daughter and one son - and husband Parveen Kumar. Kumar is a police constable in Chandigarh Police. The cheque was given as per recently signed MoU between Chandigarh Police and HDFC Bank.
