New Delhi, Jun 24 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that the government is planning to set up Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in every Lok Sabha constituency across the nation.

“We intend to open Post Office Passport Seva Kendras in every Lok Sabha constituency where no PSK exist today. We’ve so far been able to provide for 488 Lok Sabha constituencies. This process which we were going forward with very ambitiously, stopped momentarily due to COVID19,” he said.

He also said that the government is developing chip-enabled e-passport.

The chip-enabled e-passport will strengthen the security of the travel document.

“We are working with Indian Security Press Nashik and National Informatics Centre for chip-enabled e-passport. Introduction of e-passport will strengthen the security of our travel documents. The procurement process for this production is underway and I would emphasize the need to hasten that,” Dr Jaishankar said.

In order to take passport services to the doorsteps of the citizens of our country, “we have partnered with the Department of Posts to set up Post Office Passport Seva Kendras in the country,”he said.

Together with the 93 Passport Seva Kendras, “we now have 517 Passport Kendras in the country. We would be continuing with the programme of opening more Post Office Passport Seva Kendras in future,” the Minister said.

“We have put in place a robust Grievance Redressal Mechanism, effectively using social media to connect with our citizens and further improving the delivery of our services,” the Minister added.

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