The State Government on Friday requested the Centre to open two more Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the State because of expansion of opportunities for mobility across the borders.
“I would request you to take immediate action for setting up two regional PSKs at Sambalpur and Berhampur,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a letter to Union External Affairs Minister SM Krishna.
Stating that the only PSK at the State Capital fails to meet the growing demands, the Chief Minister said the citizens of interior districts, located in western and southern regions of the State,
The Chief Minister said with the expansion of opportunities for mobility across borders for education, tourism and business, there is a steady and substantial increase in the demand for passport services. “The average distance of the 10 districts, located in western part of the State, is 312 km from here and as many as 9,011 applications for passport were received in 2011 from these areas,” Naveen pointed out.
Similarly, the average distance of the eight districts, located in the southern region of Odisha, is 367 km from the Capital and a total of 7,578 citizens from these districts had applied for passport in 2011, he added.
“Keeping in view the geographical distance of these districts from Bhubaneswar as well as the number of citizens applying for passports, I would request you to take immediate action,” the Chief Minister said in the letter.
Naveen said if two more PSKs are established, the average distance of the districts, located in the western region to the PSK (proposed at Sambalpur), will be reduced from 312 km to 116 km. Similarly, the average distance of the districts, located in the southern regions to the PSK (proposed at Berhampur), will come down from 367 km to 178 km, he added.
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