Reports of delay in printing passports ‘baseless’

Ministry says some elements spreading ‘false news’ on social media, other forums

ISLAMABAD:

The interim interior ministry on Wednesday refuted report about the delay in the printing of passports, describing them as “baseless”. In a statement, the ministry claimed that some elements were spreading “false news” on social media and other forums about the delay in printing passports.

It added that the Directorate General Immigration and Passports (DGI&P) was issuing the travel document as per routine on a daily basis. The ministry maintained that fast track category passports were being printed in three days whereas urgent ones took five days.

It continued that normal passports were being printed within a month. The ministry said a large quantity of lamination paper required for passports had been procured. It added that a large batch of lamination paper would be received by the (DGI&P), on Wednesday night.

Read Passport shortage leaves many stranded

The ministry further said with the availability of lamination paper, the issuance of normal passports would be possible in 21 working days. Last month, it was reported that as per the DGI&P, a scarcity of lamination paper, which was used in passports and typically imported from France, had resulted in a nationwide shortage of the travel document.

Back in 2013, passport printing came to a similar grinding halt because of the DGI&P owing money to printers and a lack of lamination papers. In the same year, Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) had requested the then top judge to take suo motu action on the inordinate delays in providing passports to the citizens by the office that worked under the interior ministry.

According to the procedure, on the payment of an ordinary fee, the passport should be delivered within 12 to 15 working days, TIP said in its plea filed in the human rights cell of the Supreme Court. It added in its plea that for an urgent fee, the passport should be available in five to seven working days.

It pointed out that the passport office was declared in the National Corruption Perception Survey by TIP as the least corrupt till 2008. However, the graft whistle blower maintained that the passport office had become highly corrupt in the last five years.

Read more E-passport services launched

TIP said in its plea that the committed delivery schedule had been violated sometimes because of power outages, breakdown of passport making machines, and since last year due to paper shortage. it continued that press reports had revealed that the delay of several months in passport delivery was only because of efforts to award the contract to a chosen party without tender.

TIP claimed that the passport office wanted to circumvent the rules laid out by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and procure paper used in the travel document for five years from a New York-based company on an unsolicited basis.

In August this year, the delivery of passports across the country was delayed by more than a month because of the extraordinary surge of those seeking the travel document. The number of passport applications on a daily basis had jacked up to 40,000 instead of its normal range of between 24,000 and 26,000. To remove the delay in passport delivery, the printing period had been increased to 24 hours without any day off for the staff.