Published On : Wed, Jun 6th, 2018

City cops top chart for speedy passport verification process

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Nagpur: Gone are the days when one had to wait for months together for receiving passport. Thanks to efficient working of Nagpur police, passport could now be obtained within days. The city police have topped the chart in Maharashtra in completing the complicated process of verification within three days and facilitating issuance of passport in quick time.

The External Affairs Ministry with a view to provide mobile enablement of public services has launched a mobile application — mPassport Police App — to improve the overall Police Verification Report (PVR) processing time in 2017. After registration at Passport Office/Passport Seva Kendra by applicant through this, the police verification and further process is completed online and the report is sent to Regional Passport Office within stipulated time period. Currently, work of mPassport Police App has been reduced to paperless in office of Commissioner of Police. The proper use of digital tools has brought about a major turnaround in the situation. City police are now completing verification in just two days,a significant feat that has fetched city police first rank in the State for speed of completing PVR for passports. They have even left Mumbai (25 days) and Pune (29 days) far behind in the process.

100% passport verification was completed by Nagpur police within two days. Every unit of Special Branch at police stations has been equipped with high-end tablets inter-connected with passport App in January. They have expedited the process since January and staff was trained accordingly. Before introduction of the digital process, minimum time for police verification was 28 days in Nagpur. Police Verification Report includes verification of address, documents, checking criminal records and identify proofs. Earlier, all these documents were physically handed over to staff of respective police stations. But the new process has cut down this time. Now, documents are being digitally uploaded and distributed to police stations in real-time after receiving it from the Passport Officer. After getting PVR request from Passport office, police send the request to concerned police station on Passport App. Staff of SB then visit house of the applicant and send copies of documents with live pictures of the applicant on the App.

The Commissioner of Police Dr K Venkatesham accepted the challenge of completing the police verification process within shortest possible time. He instructed the DCP Special Branch to ensure the job done as quickly as possible. The DCP and his Special Branch team reduced the time to six days in January 2018. This feat turned out to be remarkable in entire Maharashtra. The External Affairs Ministry launched the latest mPassport Police mobile application (app) on May 27, 2018. In this latest app, some enquiry factors have been done away as compared to earlier verification process and the process has been made easy and simple. Armed with the latest app, Nagpur police are now completing the verification within 2-3 days. This feat has put the city cops on top of the chart in state as the fastest police verification for passport.

The Special Branch staff scans crime record of the applicant. Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) comes handy for police as criminal record of the applicant can be detected with a click. Police also check Daily Crime Record (DCR) compiled at Police Control Room (PCR) and data of courts so that person with criminal record would not get passport.