New Delhi:Taking yet another new initiative towards simplification of passport service and making things more user friendly, the government on Tuesday launched a new App - the Mobile Passport Application.
It was launched by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the presence of Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) VK Singh and Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha.
"Another step towards simplification of passport service to people! EAM @SushmaSwaraj and MoS @Gen_VKSingh launched Mobile Passport Application on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas," tweeted MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms Swaraj said henceforth an applicant can apply for passports from anywhere in the country and also can do making use of the mobile phones and laptops and desktop computers.
These new avenues are part of the continuous efforts being made by the Ministry of External Affairs towards simplification of helping citizens get the passports at convenience.
"Last four years saw Passport kranti (revolution) in the country," she said.
"This is like a revolution which will continue....Passport Seva is only one facet of developmental journey - Vikas Yatra - led by Prime Minister (Narendra Modi)," she said adding "at times when I interact with Prime Minister, he asks me when will we have Passport Seva Kendras all over the country.....and I tell him that it will be achieved soon," she added.
The External Affairs Minister said when NDA government took over power in 2014, there were only 77 such Kendras in the country. "There was only one in the entire northeastern region in Guwahati for eight states," she said adding "distance" was a major hurdle people faced in getting passports in the past.
Therefore, she said new passport kendras have been added and now there are 251 passport issuing centres.In this context, she lauded the role of the Ministry of Communications too and services of Post Offices were enlisted for the same.
She also said several initiatives were taken to make things simpler for applicants when changes were made in the system and orphanages were allowed to issue birth certificates for the applicants.
"Similarly, we made changes for Sadhus as they too move away from families of their births when they take sanyas. The Gurus for the Sadhus can be considered guardians," she said.