Passport appointments are now available within 24 hours of applying at the Ahmedabad Regional Passport Office (RPO). For the convenience of many people, the Ahmedabad RPO has started working even on Saturdays. The office received 1.54 lakhs applications between January 1 and April 7, 2022, and was able to issue 1.46 lakhs passports.
In the past ten months, the staff of Ahmedabad’s RPO has worked 14 Saturdays, which has enabled them to process applications quickly. There was a narrow down in the appointment wait time and an increase in passports issued, said Wren Mishra, Ahmedabad’s Regional Passport Officer.
The processing rate of passports in Ahmedabad’s RPO is 94.8%. The inquiry days went from four days a week to Monday to Friday. The RPO staff says that even though the work efficiency has accelerated, the office has a staff shortage of 45%.
After Covid restrictions were relieved by various countries, students and abroad employees have started to gather up in the Passport Office. Passports issued in 2020 by RPO were 3.19 lakhs. The number increased to 4.23 lakhs in 2021. Ahmedabad RPO issued 33% more passports in 2021 as compared to 2020.
More data shows that the passports issued in the first three months of 2022 are 26% more than that in 2021. Even during the second wave of Covid-19, when many employees were Corona positive, the passport office remained open. Not only Gujarat, but the RPO received a lot of applications from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan as it was one of the few operational passport offices in the country.
