Himachal passport office yet to open

By IANS
Monday February 12, 02:01 PM
Shimla, Feb 12 (IANS) Though a decision to open a passport office in
Shimla was taken by the external affairs ministry three years ago,
there is still no sign of the promised office here.

More and more travellers, particularly students, headed abroad have
to go to Chandigarh, which is the nearest full-fledged passport
office.


Currently, only passport applications are accepted at Shimla's single-
room office. The rest of the formalities, including follow up, are
carried out at the Chandigarh office, causing inconvenience and
delays to the foreign-bound.


'A passport office would convenience people from all over the state,'
said Rajeev Sharma, a college student who plans to study abroad.


Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, who hails from
Shimla, had a year ago promised that the new office would open in the
railway board building in downtown Shimla.


However, there is still no sign of the premises being vacated by
previous occupants to make way for Himachal Pradesh's first full-
fledged passport office.


'We are ready to open the new passport office here and have again
requested the state government to vacate the premises in the railway
board building,' said R.S. Verma, the passport liaison officer.

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