Government Passport issuance is an area not many people know about. Government has no hold on how the innocent passport applicants get their fortune out of the hands of the CBI officials within the Police Force.
My Friend is abroad for work and his wife and a kid staying alone in Delhi.
This has been a while since he is away so the company offerred for his wife to be sent over to him to that international city. Problem is the PAssport.
The poor wife who had actually applied for the passport two years ago and the poor couple didnot feel it urgent earlier to followup for the passport had now an ordeal.
The poor lady has been going through the queues to the Bhikaiji Kama passport office. The long queues and finally her turn they tell her she needs to fill the passport form for her details again. AFter marriage she is now staying in Delhi. Her residence before marriage was in another state.
AFter filling the new particulars form she now has submitted the same to the passport office.. the application form says 11 - 35 days for the passport issuance process. where as it shoud say 30-120 days.
Now for the police verification that is the real trauma here.
The old rugged official appears at the front gate and with his unsolicited attitude as if he is hunting fr a criminal comes to ask about the residence proof. she shows her marital status and other details (papers).
Finally the shock comes that for some reasons cant publish here the process will not finish until they furnish with a rupees eight thousand per person.
May readers would agree with the usual demand of some Indian dollars even if there is no error in identity or the character of the applicant.
Now where does the poor lady get the money from, how would she negotiate and do the needful is not so hard to imagine.
Will there be an end to this attitude and how would the Indian government handle this cancer of the society?