Demand for passport office at Aurangabad

Aurangabad: Different stakeholders have renewed the demand for setting up of a dedicated Regional Passport Office ( RPO ) at Aurangabad to overcome procedural delays associated with issuing the key document.

As per the current set up, the Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) Aurangabad is mapped with the RPO, Mumbai, while remaining such six facilities at Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad, Jalna and Beed are attached to the RPO, Pune.

Advocacy group, Passport office Aurangabad Action Committee, has stressed on the need of setting up the RPO at Aurangabad stating that it was need of the hour.

“It is good that POPSKs have come up different districts places in Marathwada, but the region still needs a dedicated RPO at Aurangabad. The desired facility would cut down the procedural delays associated due to the barrier of distance. Also, applicants currently have to travel all the way to Mumbai in or Pune case any technical issues arise in processing the passport application,” group founder and president S Masih said.

Echoing similar views, activist Mohammad Waseemuddin Siddiqui of the advocacy group Azad Yuva Brigade said that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) must set up a RPO for Marathwada. “There is no dearth of availability of land for RPO. The necessary facility must come up soon as possible,” he said.