Hyderabad people to be issued e-passports soon

People in Hyderabad will be getting new e-passports soon as the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is gearing up to issue e-chip based passports with added security features which will help to curb issues pertaining to fake passports.

The time to issue the new e-passports will take the same time period of four to five days by the regional passport offices (RPO) as the MEA has procured new printers for all the RPOs, said an official. It is learned that MEA has chosen only a few regional passport offices in the country for implementing the new e-passports and Hyderabad in one among them as the city has a high demand for passports, said E Vishnuvardhan Reddy, a regional passport officer, Telangana.

Reddy said that the e-chip based passport will have all the information about the applicant and also have the highest paper and printing quality. In case of tampering the passport with another image, an alert message will be sent to the passport office by the chip, said Reddy.

The new passport applications will be accepted at the Passport Seva Kendras in Ameerpet, Tolichowki, Ameerpet and all the post office Passport Seva Kendra.