Backlog of passport applications completely eliminated, says Naqvi

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday said the backlog of passport applications has completely ended and citizens will be issued passports within due time.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of setting up of the state-of-the-art Immigration and Passports Headquarters and Islamabad Regional Passport Office, he said the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)’s 24/7 mega centres are present in 14 cities in the country and now in all these centres issuances of facility will be provided to citizens.

Naqvi said that model centres of passport would be set up in Lahore and Karachi. He said the passport applications backlog had completely ended, adding, earlier, there was a six-month backlog.

He said that last week, when he visited the passport and NADRA centres in Lahore and Karachi, he was very pleased as people expressed their satisfaction, adding the conditions of passport and NADRA centres had changed completely and there was no rush. He highlighted that the problems of this institution can be solved by transforming it into an authority.

He stated that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched a crackdown against the agent mafia outside the passport offices.

Director General (DG) Immigration and Passports (I&P) Mustafa Jamal Qazi said the services of the passport office have been improved.

The Interior Minister also visited the new reception, online section, production centre, and data centre.

Chairman NADRA Lieutenant General Muhammad Munir Afsar, Additional Secretaries Riffat Mukhtar Raja and Ayub Chaudhry, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Muhammad Ali Randhawa, IG Islamabad Police Ali Nasir Rizvi and concerned officials were also present on the occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024