Hyderabad: People face hardships in passport seva kendras

Hyderabad: Unmindful of the sufferings faced by people, most passport seva kendras (PSK) in the city are allegedly running without proper arrangements aimed to provide succour to citizens, specially seniors, approaching them to get their work done after booking online slots.

Frequent technical glitches leading to delay or cancellation of slots, no proper seating and lack of parking facility are few issues which completely unnerve people at the kendras. Cherry on the top is the unwelcome challans being slapped by the Traffic Police for parking vehicles on roads as most PSKs lack sufficient space for parking.

Similar is the situation at Tolichowki PSK, which is one among the six such facilities after Ameerpet, Begumpet, Nizamabad, Karimnagr and Tirupati, which are under the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Hyderabad.

It is found that most people, specially senior citizens approaching the PSK at Tolichowki are forced to wait for several hours on footpath outside under open sky at a time when seasonal showers are occuring frequently.

Disappointed with the way the PSKs are run in the city especially in Tolichowki, Asif Hussain Sohail, a community activist said, "recently, an issue of server breakdown left hundreds of applicants unnerved. They later held a sit-in before the PSK protest cancellation of their slots which were secured after waiting for over a month."

More so, he said, people, specially senior citizens, were forced to wait on the road due to lack of proper space available at PSK. Also, the facility lacks proper parking to facilitate people approaching the centre.

"The traffic challans for parking vehicles on roads near the PSK comes much to the chagrin of the public," he explained.

"After privatization of passport services, the quantum of suffering and hardships to the public should have been curtailed. However, people are facing much more inconvenience than earlier at the PSKs in the city, specially at Tolichowki, where messy state of affairs are common. No proper facilities are available inside or outside, to say the least. It is quite strange to see how the PSKs get approved without proper rudimentary facilities like proper parking, seating arrangements," argued Abrar, another resident.