Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan inaugurated the state’s second passport office in Kota. With the inauguration, the process of issuing passports from the Kota Passport Office has begun. Muraleedharan handed over the first passport to Kota resident Abhishek Khinchi.
After inaugurating the passport office, in a meeting held in the CP Auditorium, Muraleedharan said that until 2018, 3 to 4 lakh applications for passports were received in Rajasthan every year. This year, 6 lakh applications are expected. Similarly, 25 to 50 thousand applications used to come from Kota and nearby districts, which have now increased to one lakh. Because of this, there was considerable pressure on the lone passport office in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Due to the efforts of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the second passport office of the state is starting in Kota, which will provide relief to the general public, and the work of issuing passports will be easier and faster than before. Before 2014, there were only 77 Passport Service Centers in the country, which has now increased more than seven times to over 500.
Muraleedharan said that during the G-20 summit, the world saw the strength of emerging India under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Leaders of the top 20 countries were also amazed to see India’s progress in the digital sector. Critics used to say that it would take 50 years to connect citizens in India through digital means. Under Modi’s leadership, more than 80 per cent of the population is using digital means in just 6 years.