Passport Pangs : Service or torture?

2 passports, same number

Dear TOI,

My wife and I were issued passports with the same number-G 7216729- by the Lucknow passport office. We realized this when we booked a trip to Thailand last year. I went to the PSK in Ghaziabad seeking rectification, but the guard outside the office didn't let us enter. He asked us to apply online and book an appointment . We did accordingly. We got an appointment for January 12. The APO there told us that the Lucknow office needs to issue a correction letter . I requested them to see my details in the computer. They reluctantly agreed. The system showed my passport number as G7216727. I asked them to change my passport there, but they said they need the letter from Lucknow. I wrote to Lucknow twice, but they never bothered to reply. Then I requested a friend, who was visiting that city, to meet the passport officer there. On May 3, he met the passport officer, but the Lucknow office refused to issue a correction letter. They said I will have to visit the office in person and give my fingerprints. My friend suggested that since all of that could be done at the Ghaziabad PSK, and since now all PSKs are connected online. But the officials refused. I would like to ask the ministry of external affairs why I am being harassed this way. It's not my fault that they made an error and issued two passports with the same number. I am very much sure that even if I visit them, they will come up with some excuse to harass me further. This is unfair. Please help.

Ajoy Kumar Keshri

I had applied for a fresh passport in January 2013. After much struggle with the online appointment, I finally got an appointment on January 10 for January 17 at the Bhikaji Cama Place PSK. Police verification happened by the end of the month, but the policeman took Rs 500 from me as "fuel charge" . I have been continuously tracking my application status (file no. DL01W0014024013), and since mid-February , my application status reads "Police verification report for your passport application is under review at Regional Passport Office . Subject to granting, passport will be dispatched after police verification report is found clear. You would receive an SMS/email once the passport is dispatched" . I don't understand where the process went wrong. I just helplessly login every day, hoping for the status to change, but in vain. I have provided all my application details to you. TOI, I desperately seek your help.

Deepak Joshi

On December 12, 2012, my husband, child and I submitted our passport application forms at the PSK in Ghaziabad. Both my husband (file no. GZ1060708546412) and I (file no. GZ1060708407612) are government officers , so we submitted our identity certificates as prescribed in the form. Police verification was done on December 25 and January 13. We received our child's passport in the first week of February this year; but even after five months, our passports haven't come. Upon enquiry, we found that the RPO was reviewing the police verification report. That status hasn't changed for the last three months. We don't know why they are delaying it. I am myself an ex-employee of ministry of external affairs.

Smita Patnaik Sutar

Senior citizens harassed

My wife and I applied for a passport on May 24 last year. Our file numbers were GZ10Z00800511 and GZ10Z00800513. We waited for police verification, but it happened only in July. We were told that the report would be sent to the passport office. After a while, the website showed 'passports will be dispatched soon' as status. But no passport came. After four months, when we checked with the passport office in December, we were told that due to some problem with our house address, the passports were on hold and that forms may need to be resubmitted. We filled the forms again in January. Police verification happened in February for the second time. Again, nothing happened. Then in April, the passport helpline told us that police verification report hadn't reached from the Noida police station. We checked with the verification officer, who told us that the report had been sent long ago. We are senior citizens and yet we are being harassed like this.