Passports backlog may take another two to three weeks to be cleared due to a large number of pending unprocessed application for passports at Immigration and Passport (I&P) Directorate for the last several months. "The finance division has released Rs 700 million to the Security Printing Corporation of Pakistan (SPCP) after which I&P directorate may be in a position to clear the backlog of passport applications in the next two or three weeks," a senior official of I&P directorate said on condition of anonymity.
He said that presently the total backlog of passport applicants was 170,000 and earlier it had crossed 280,000. After the directives of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, I&P directorate has been working in three shifts a day to clear the backlog, he said. The official said that due to financial constraints, people had to wait for more than two months to get an ordinary passport while it took two to three weeks for an urgent passport.
He said that I&P was generating revenue of Rs 14 billion for the national exchequer while its annual expenditure is 0.97 million. "I&P is receiving 10,000 to 15,000 applications on daily basis while earlier SPCP was issuing a small number of blank booklets to I&P directorate on daily basis which is another major reason for the huge backlog," he added.
Under the rules and regulations, the directorate is bound to issue urgent passport within 4 to 6 days while normal passports are to be issued within 15 days but around 160,000 people have not been issued passports even after several months, he added.
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