Jammu: Union Minister Jitendra Singh today said that Jammu and Kashmir must draw maximum benefit from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Transforming India Mission' and should not be left behind.
"India is on a journey towards fast-track development under Prime Minister Modi and Jammu and Kashmir should not allow itself to be left behind," Singh said.
Speaking at the inauguration of Passport Mela here, Singh said that it was a matter of satisfaction that within two years of Modi government taking over, the Passport Office at Jammu has been upgraded to the status of Regional Passport Office.
"A happy coincidence is that the first-ever Regional Passport Officer of Indian Foreign Service cadre posted in Jammu also happens to be a son of the soil hailing from erstwhile Doda district," Singh, Minister in the PMO, said.
"It is a matter of satisfaction, that in the last one year itself, as many as 35,000 passports were issued from the Jammu Passport office," he said.
Singh suggested that the disposal time between putting in an application to the delivery of a passport can be further shortened keeping in view the fact that in some parts of the country the passport delivery now takes about a week to ten days.
"In a centre like Jammu, it still takes at least three weeks because of the protracted and detailed procedure of verification and intelligence clearance," he said.
Singh also suggested that the Regional Passport Office in Jammu should open extension counters for issuing passport in remote districts like Doda.
"This will not only be an additional facility for the people living in those areas but will also encourage the number of people applying for passports," he said.
