Anand Kumar,
Regional Passport Officer, Patna
Regional Passport Office (RPO), Patna, was initially opened in 1979. At that time, entire work, entries and records were maintained manually. Even Passports were being written and issued in a manual manner.
Steps towards Computerisation
Computers were purchased and installed in Regional Passport Office Patna in 1998 for the first time. Then, Computer was used in accessing mails, sending mails and in preparation of some detailed reports.
Computerization in Regional Passport Office Patna came into being with effect from 12 June 2002 in co-ordination with NIC. This enabled the RPO to generate computer printed receipts, and seamless uploading of data. All this made it possible for us to check previous references through PISON (Passport Information Service on the Net). Computer-printed passports came into being. With availability of e-mail facility with all the PIA’s in India and missions abroad, circulation of circulars on lost, impounding, deletion, cancellation and revocation of passports became convenient. This was further made easier through DRIL entries in respect of lost and damaged passports. NIC had also started uploding FTP incremental data in this respect.
Scanning of old records including Index Cards were commenced in the year 2004 and it went on smoothly up to 2012. Online registration of passport application form in respect of applicants was initiated in December 2006. Some of the appointments were fixed for online passport applications on daily basis and a specific counter was opened for the same. Necessary information related to this office was updated in the website in the year 2007. Existing NIC system comprising of Passport Control Issuance System (PCIS), Passport Index Retrieval System (PIRS) and Prior Approval Category (PAC) was not so smooth and it was realized to upgrade the system with a view to streamline the increasing workload of the office. Therefore, a new computer system Passport Management System (PMS) was installed in January 2011. In PMS, Servers, Hardware items and Printers were changed accordingly and the up gradation of system made the entire functioning very fast and smooth.
In order to show transparency and disseminate information, RPO Patna carried out uploading of all relevant information, list of officers, RTI details, list of Holidays, Budget of office, Tender related notices and other important circulars with office orders.
e-Governance for better services
Passport Seva Project is a Mission Mode Project of the National e-Governance plan to deliver passport services to citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible and reliable manner. The idea is to serve the people in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained and motivated workforce.
Passport Seva Project (PSP) was implemented in February 2012. In due course of time, Legacy NIC System, was replaced by the new Passport Seva Project system to be operated by Tata consultancy Service (TCS).
Now from Online Registration to Dispatch of Passport, entire process of workflow has been fully computerised. Employees and Officers are working through dongles issued to them. Of late, sincere efforts have been taken to streamline the sending of police verification reports with receiving of the same in the online process. 34 out of 38 District Police Headquarters have been connected with the system to download the personal particulars forms and to submit the approved reports online. This has made the process faster and easier through curtailment of the number of days taken for issue of personal particulars forms and feeding of manual Police Verification considerably.
Online fee payment for passport or related services has been introduced. This can be done using Internet Banking, Debit Card or Credit Card. In addition to this, SMS file tracking system has been introduced to provide regular updates on the mobile phone of the applicant. Recently, Mobile app (mPassportSeva) has also been launched through which an applicant can get specific details on aspects like location of centres, fee, application status, contact information and other general information.
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