Mela extended for half day
IMPHAL, February 25: Manipur recieved the second highest number of applicants seeking passport after Assam amongst the NE states, said Ajungla Jamir, regional passport officer (RPO), Guwahati today.
She was speaking to the IFP during the second day of the Passport Mela at the 1st Manipur Rifles Ground today.
Meanwhile, owing to the huge response from the public of the state, the mela has been extended by another half day tommorrow.
The mela was earlier scheduled to conclude today.
Speaking to IFP, Jamir observed that the camp in Manipur is the first of its kind in the entire North East region.
According to her, Manipur has recieved the second highest number of applicants after Assam in term of applicants seeking passport.
She elaborated, that the camp recieved around 240 application forms on its first day.
“Today we are expecting over 400 applications and expecting over 700 applications combined during the camp”, asserted Jamir.
She further informed that they are planning to extend the mela by a half day tomorrow wherein the regional office is planning to accept maximum number of tokens of the remaining 600 token which have been distributed today.
Jamir further disclosed that they are planning to come back again to organised similar camp more likely within the two months while assuring to speed up the documentation process to ensure that applicants are provided with their passport at the earliest.
Divulging that they have inspected the site for the proposed State Passport Office at Old Assembly Secretariat, Jamir observed that the chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh is also keen on opening of the Passport Office.
Relatively, the Public Works Department is also helping equally doing their best by speeding up internal furnishing, she said.
JPO further speculated that the state passport office is likely to be opened in the early summer after the upcoming 14th Lok Sabha General Election 2014.
As an initial step to operate the passport office, two officers from state home department have been sent to Guwahati for training, said Jamir adding that one will be posted in Imphal and the other at Guwahati to overcome language barrier.