- ईमानदार कर्मचारी
- 13 years ago
- 19356 दर्शनों की संख्या
I got my Tatkaal passport within a week.
Alright, this is a long one. I applied for a normal passport in the Passport office. Now admittedly, I got this done through a middle man who asked me for about Rs. 500 more, but he did most of the leg work for me by standing in the long lines, so I guess this was justified. Anyway, about a week later, I decided to get the passport application converted to Tatkaal. This time, I decided to do the work myself. I went to the passport office with the required documents, only to find out that they had added another document (a printout of the online confirmation of my ID proofs, basically a prinout of the listing of my Voter ID card, ) which had not been updated on their website. Oh well. Now I had received my Voter ID card less than a month ago, and so the online database had not been updated, and it would only be done after the elections which were more than a month away at that time. So I checked the list of documents again, to see what could be done to circumvent this problem. Turns out, that a letter of verification from a gazetted officer of a certain level (say the DM, or the ADM) can be used. Now one of my relatives happens to know the DM and the ADM, so getting the verification letter was really easy. I went ahead, and this time, they accepted my documents and gave me a receipt. But the story doesn't end here. When a week passed and I didn't get my passport, I went to the Passport office. I had to stand in a REALLY LONG queue to get to the information window. I asked the guy manning the window about my passport. He stamped my query form and sent me to the ********** the Regional Passport Officer himself. I had to wait for another half an hour, then I got to ********** the RPO. He checked my passport number on his database, and then asked me to come back after 2:00 when the submission hours have ended. So I came back at 3:00 pm. This time, I met with one of those guys who manned the form submission window. He showed me my form, where I had forgotten to sign (my bad). After taking my signature, he immediately sent my passport application further. In less than one week (4 days to be exact), I had my passport. While I have no doubt that bribery does go on in the passport office, it is possible to get work done according to regulations. The real bribery is done by the police men who come for verification. I was lucky enough to bypass that due to the ADMs verification letter. So if you can get a verification letter from a bureaucrat of sufficient rank , then it is easier to get your passport. What I did notice at the office was that the queues are extremely long, and the people who man the windows turn away application if you are missing even one document. So be prepared.