The Central government has sanctioned seven passport seva kendras (PSKs) for the state.

These kendras would cover all the regions in the state and would help improve passport services to the people.

Union minister for external affairs S.M.Krishna in a letter to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy informed that under the project, seven passport seva kendras would be set up in the State including three in Hyderabad, one each at Vijayawada, Tirupati, Nizamabad and Visakhapatnam.

As part of the roll out of the project, first PSK is likely to be operationalised in Visakhapatnam by end of this month.

The new building for the passport Office is also being readied for occupation. The other kendras in Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Vijayawada and Tirupati will be launched in phases between August and October.

These kendras will function under the jurisdiction of passport offices in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

The chief minister had recently wrote to the external affairs minister stating that a large number of people from the state particularly students go to foreign countries for higher studies and employment.

Besides this, a considerable number of youth also visit the Gulf and Arabian countries, on work permits, and remit a significant amount of foreign exchange to the nation.

In view of the above, there is a constant stream of passport seekers in the state and the services of the regional passport office at Hyderabad is often found falling short of the requirement in view of the heavy work load.

There is an urgent need to decongest the passport services in the state so that the difficulties presently being faced by the citizens would be eased, the chief minister said.

He said the proposed seven passport seva kendras in the state would go a long way in solving the  problems of the people to a considerable extent.