Passport department has over 700,000 applications pending for issuance of passports at present. PHOTO: FILE
The ministry of interior has sent a summary to law division suggesting dissolution of the passport and immigration department (P&I) for its poor performance and making it an autonomous body.
The P&I department has over 700,000 applications pending for issuance of passports at present because it ran out of lamination paper two months ago.
Tender for procurement of new lamination has been awarded to a foreign firm; however, it would take at least a week for it to be delivered.
However, the department’s top bosses, instead of fixing responsibility for the system breakdown, have come up with a solution: an extreme step.
“They have suggested the government to dissolve the department which is currently under interior ministry’s control and make it into an autonomous body like Nadra,” said an officer of P&I. He did not want to be named.
He said that secretary ministry of interior Siddiq Akbar has sent a summary to law division, endorsed by director general P&I, for suggesting to president to dissolve the department.
“Making P&I an autonomous body can be done by a presidential ordinance and once the new government is in place, the National Assembly will make it into a law,” the officer said.
As an autonomous body, the new passport authority will not be dependent on the finance division. The P&I will keep its revenue earned from the issuance of passports and spend it on uninterrupted running of the system, said the officer.
“Last year, the passport department earned roughly Rs12 billion in revenue that went to finance division,” the officer added.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2013.
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Passport Offices are the most corrupt places I've seen in Pakistan. The officers there would openly ask 500-2000 rs bribes if they realize you are a moti aasaami. Having spent 2 days there I realized we are still living in the patwaari culture.
In the Rawalpindi Passport office, for instance, the verbal 'interview' officer asks for your profession and once he's confirmed you aren't a govt officer and are a private worker or a rich person, he'll redirect you to one of his dirty sub-ordinates who will give you hints to either pay an amount of 500-2000 rs or give you excuses that you can't get a passport unless you get a verification from your Naazim or Kachehri. Stuff like that - where people just give the bribe money instead of the unnecessary visits and jumping through loops.
It was kinda ironic, my visit in the passport office. The dude asking for money proudly showed me a Pukhtoon family and said, aapka kaam 500rs mein kr raha hoon, that family paid 800rs each. And on the wall there was a poster saying 'report misconduct to xyz office' - which of course is only the wise thing to do if you want to not get your passport on time.
I suspect this issue has spread to NICOP (National ID Card for Overseas Pakistani), My NICOP application is on "pending for printing" status since One months :(
@ Mohammad.. Agreed with you
not only passport department, every department need renovation.. Musharraf gave us gift of Machine Readable Passport (MRP), our documents go respected all around the world, just 5 years of PPP government and look the chaos around us.
Tell me.. have you ever worried this much during Musharraf's era? Have you ever saw any department under performing? Have you ever heard of scale of this much corruption?
Thank you Musharraf, for give us Media.. good or bad, it expose and expose so badly and people are more aware now.