How a mobile application is set to reduce the time for getting a passport in Delhi

The 'mPassport Police App' is set to make the process of police verification for passports completely digital, removing cumbersome paperwork and bolstering processing times from 15 to only 5 days.

In a move that us set to "bolster smart policing" in the capital city, the MEA has introduced a new mobile app that will help expedite the process of police verification for obtaining a passport. (File Photo)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

In a bid to reduce the time taken for police verification of persons applying for passports in the national capital, the Ministry of External Affairs has introduced the ‘mPassport Police App’, which will now digitize the process of sending the police verification report to the Regional Passport Office (RPO).

Home Minister Amit Shah made an announcement in this regard at Delhi Police’s 76th Raising Day ceremony on Thursday (February 16). In his speech, Shah said that people living in Delhi will no longer have to worry about the time taken to get their passports as “they will now get a police clearance within five days as against the 15 days it used to take previously”.

He added that 2,000 passport applications are received every day by passport offices and that “their online processing will reduce the problems faced by people”.

Also Read | George Soros: The man, his activities

Amit Shah also dedicated 350 mobile tablets to the personnel of the Special Branch of Delhi Police, which prepares and sends the police verification report to the passport office.

A press note issued by the Ministry of External Affairs stated that this would result in the entire process of police verification and submission of reports becoming digital and paperless. “The process of verification time from 15 days to five days will be a great step towards improving citizen services,” the note, issued by Regional Passport Officer Abhishek Dubey, said.

How was police verification done previously?

Senior officers told The Indian Express that earlier, the process would be cumbersome and involve hard copies of a passport application making their way through the bureaucracy. Applications would go from the passport office to the Delhi Police Bhawan. They then would be distributed to the Special Branch’s Inspectors in each district, who would hand them over to an enquiry officer.

Enquiry officers, mostly Assistant Sub-Inspector level officers, are the ones who actually carry out the verification by visiting the address of an applicant and sending back the police verification report to the ACP of each district, who then attests and sends it to the passport office for further processing.

Story continues below this ad

Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Rajneesh Gupta said that earlier, the maximum time period to carry out the police verification and send it back to the regional passport office was 15 days and that the new facility will substantially reduce this. “Earlier, documents used to come from the passport office to the Delhi Police Bhawan and were further distributed to officers at different levels through printed hard copies which would lead to possibility of making errors and involved the manual feeding of information,” Gupta said.

Also Read | Why do chatbots sometimes act weird and spout nonsense? Here’s how their underlying technology works

How will the ‘mPassport Police App’ change things?

The officer added that while the process of sending the Police Verification Report back to the passport office has been digital for some years now, the online application will altogether remove the need for any paperwork during the initial form distribution process.

“Enquiry officers will be trained on how to use the application on the tablets assigned to them…we have around 350 such enquiry officers across the city and the process of making them understand the technology is ongoing,” Gupta said, adding that the initiative will bolster smart policing.