Huge response at student passport mela‎ - Students throng Passport Seva Kendra in Tiruchi and Thanjavur ‎

P. Kumar (right), Member of Parliament, Tiruchi, A. Elavarasan, MP,and K.Balamurugan, Regional Passport Officer receving the application from to the student at the Special Students Mela in Tiruchi on Saturday. Photo: M.Srinath

The move was also intended to overcome the problem faced by passport officers in processing applications with insufficient or defective supporting documents

Students applying for passports thronged Passport Seva Kendra (PSKs) in Tiruchi and Thanjavur on Saturday to attend the passport mela organised exclusively for them. The mela was organised by the Regional Passport Office, Tiruchi, in the wake of a large number of applications received from students seeking to pursue higher studies abroad.

Personal interviews

Student applicants attended personal interviews directly during the mela without having to wait for appointments generated through the online system.

The move was also intended to overcome the problem faced by passport officers in processing applications with insufficient or defective supporting documents. The mela was inaugurated at the Tiruchi PSK by P.Kumar, MP, Tiruchi, and A.Ilavarasan, Rajya Sabha MP. Regional Passport Officer K.Balamurugan said about 250 applications were processed at the Tiruchi PSK and 350 at the Thanjavur PSK.

Although the passport office has been organising such melas for students in educational institutions in the past, the event was being organised at the PSKs now as biometric data of applicants have to be collected. Such events would continue to be organised in future.