Police Verification Of Passport Down To Four Days In Odisha: DGP

Cuttack: Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay on Saturday said the average verification time of the passports by police in the first fortnight of September was only four days which is among the best in the country. In August, the average time was six days.

Lauding the efforts of the district SPs and the officers of all police stations for substantial improvement in verification of the passports, he said the Odisha Police was taking a few weeks to complete the process till early this year.

As per data of passport authorities, the average time for passport verification came down to 26 days in 2018 and 2019. However, due to the COVID pandemic, it took 36 days in 2020.

As compared to the time taken for the verification in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the average verification time taken was 99 days in 2017, 90 days in 2016 and 38 days in 2015.

To bring substantial improvement, the Odisha Police early this year decided to bring down the duration of the verification. Under the 5T initiative, tablets were purchased and distributed to each police station and a specific App for passport verification was installed. The process and monitoring of verification were taken by the Special Branch resulting in a substantial improvement in the time taken for passport verification, the DGP said.