Coimbatore Passport Office plans SMS alerts

The Coimbatore Passport Office plans to launch Short Message Service (SMS) alerts to passport applicants. The service is expected to become operational by January 2010, said B. Balamurugan, Passport Officer, Coimbatore.

The new services include SMS alerts on various stages of processing of applications and ‘first-in and first-out’ concept of seniority-based processing. All district passport cells would be computerised with online application facility. The SMS facility would enable the applicants to enquire about the status of their applications, Mr. Balamurugan said.

He held preliminary discussions with P.V. Raju, senior systems analyst from the Kochi Passport Office, where the SMS system is already operational, on the creation of the required infrastructure. During the process of applications, the passport office might raise queries on police verification details, original documents, previous passport etc. These queries are at present sent by post which consumes time. On receiving the SMS alert, the applicants could respond to the queries promptly.

The ‘first-in and first-out’ system would help eliminate attempts to bypass the seniority of applications. Once the police verification report is attached to the application, it will be serially numbered and processed only on that basis. In emergency cases, only the four designated Passport Issuing Authorities could assure early issuance of passport. The Coimbatore office which has a staff strength of only 21 as against the sanctioned 55 is overburdened. It has asked the district passport cells in the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem and Namakkal to become online so that the workload could be minimised.