Odisha demands regional passport centres at Berhampur and Sambalpur

With growing demand for passports among youngsters, the Odisha government on Friday urged the Centre to open two more Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the state. “I would request you to take immediate action for setting up two Regional PSKs at Sambalpur and Berhampur,”Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Union External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

Stating that the only PSK at the state capital fails to meet the demands, Mr. Patnaik said the citizens of interior districts located in western and southern regions of the state were facing difficulty in obtaining passports. The average distance of the 10 districts located in the western part of the state is 312 km from Bhubaneswar and as many as 9,011 applications for passport are received in the year 2011 from these areas, Mr. Patnaik pointed out.

Similarly, the average distance of the eight districts located in the southern region of Odisha is 367 km from the state capital and a total of 7,578 citizens from these districts applied for passport in 2011, he added.

“Keeping in view the geographical distance of these districts from Bhubaneswaras well as the number of citizens applying for passport, I would request you to take immediate action,” Mr. Patnaik said in the letter. In case, Mr. Patnaik added two PSKs are established, the average distance of the districts located in the western and southern regions will come down from 312 km to 116 km and 367 km to 178 km respectively, he said.