Passport kendra nod for Siliguri

TT, Sept. 23: The external affairs ministry has decided to set up a passport seva kendra in Siliguri and asked the Bengal chief secretary to allocate a site for the building.

Union foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, in a letter to Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia, has said: “I am happy to inform you that the ministry has decided to establish a new PSK (passport seva kendra) in Siliguri. The ministry is in touch with the chief secretary of the government of West Bengal for allotment of a suitable site for the PSK. We will keep you informed of the progress.”

Swaraj was responding to a letter written by Ahluwalia on August 7, requesting that the Centre set up a passport seva kendra in Siliguri.

A passport centre had been set up in Siliguri on May 12, 2000, and it used to issue passport forms, receive applications and send them to the regional passport office in Calcutta for processing. But the office stopped functioning in 2013. The applicants from north Bengal and Sikkim were requested to submit the application forms either in kendras in Behrampore or Calcutta.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, when told about the decision to open a kendra in Siliguri, said it was the chief minister’s initiative. 

Deep Gazmer, TOI,DARJEELING: In a huge relief for people of North Bengal and the Hills, the ministry of external affairs has cleared the deck for establishing a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Siliguri, an issue that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) had taken up and pursued by Darjeeling MP S S Ahluwalia with the central government in August this year.

Till date, there has been no PSK in the region. A Passport Application and Collection Center (PACC) was set up in Siliguri but closed down in April last year following a notice by the regional passport officer in Kolkata. Applicants now submit their application forms either in Behrampore, which is 350km, or in Kolkata, 600km away.

"I am very happy to announce that Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has agreed to open a PSK in Siliguri. She has also proposed to organize Passport Seva Camps in Siliguri, the details of which are being finalized. I am grateful to the minister and the Darjeeling MP for fulfilling our demand on such a short notice," GJM president Bimal Gurung told TOI through an email from Kathmandu. Gurung and four other party central leaders are presently in Nepal to attend a programme.

When the PACC was operational, it was receiving around 50-60 applications every day. It used to issue passport forms, receive applications and send them to the regional passport office in Kolkata for processing. However, once the PSK is established, all passport verification steps would be done in Siliguri.

The external affairs ministry is in touch with the state chief secretary for allotment of a suitable site for the PSK.