mPassport app to benefit government in big way

The MEA would pay up Rs 150 to every file which is returned after verification process within 21 days of its receipt. Sources said the Greater Chennai Police alone received close to 2 lakh applications last year from Passport Offices and had disbursed an equivalent amount while it cleared about 1.75 lakh applications in 2016.

An easy amount of Rs 3 crore can be pocketed by the state from the City Police alone besides reducing the burden of paper work involved in the PCC issuance process. If we factor in the rest of the Commissionerates and District Police Offices, the possible revenue generation would be bigger.

Explaining the process, a senior police officer said the Passport Offices would send files in batches through email to the Intelligence Section and Special Branch of the respective Commissionerates and District Police Offices. 

“Within a few days’ time, we would receive physical copies of the documents. The same would be despatched to the respective police who deal with the PCC work in the jurisdictional police stations.

 The internal document which the cops use would have 11 columns in it, and the cop would have to return the filled-up forms to the headquarters. However, there is no turn-around time prescribed for PCC since physical verification could be cumbersome, and is based on the availability of the applicant. The time taken to revert also depends on the police work allotted to the cop tasked to carry out the verification,” the officer said.

All 1,767 police stations in the state are provided with a dedicated PC each under Tamil Nadu Innovative Scheme to download mPassport Police App of MEA, and the App would help the cops mark their responses from the field itself, while enhancing the chance for earning the incentive from MEA.