Passport applicant can share documents from Digi locker

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: The Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) has integrated passport services with the Digi Locker platform that will enable citizens to submit various documents essential for passport services in a paperless mode.
Hence forward, passport applicants do not need to carry these documents physically on the date of appointment at PSK for interview and they can carry e documents through Digi Locker and d, said NK Shil, RPO Jammu.
Digi Locker, a flagship initiative of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (NEITY), aims to provide access to authentic documents stored in a citizen’s digital document wallet. While inaugurating the Digi Locker for Passport Seva, V. Muraleedharan, MoS (MEA) & Parliamentary Affairs informed that “As a next step, we are working on the idea of a passport to be included as a one of the documents as Digi Locker. Moving forward I am confident that this would help the citizens to retrieve the passport whenever required, in case of lost of passport and while re-issuing, this facility will be of great help.” The Minister also told that the government is also working towards rolling out passports that are designed to increase security making it more difficult to tamper with the data recorded and limiting the chances of fraud.
In future, biometric passports would help smoothen immigration processes at airports which are equipped with e-passport gates in the upcoming Passport Seva Project V2.0. The usage of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, chat board analytics and robotics process automations will further mitigate the hardship, enrich the citizens experience and facilitate speedy service delivery.”
More than 7 Crore passports have been issued through the Passport Seva Project till date. Citizens can now submit various documents required for services through the Government’s Digi Locker app system in a paperless mode and are therefore not required to carry the original documents. Shri N.K.Shil Regional Passport Officer, exuded in confident that this pathbreaking move will also go a long way in mitigating the hardship faced by those who have lost their passports, provide big relief andaid them for re-issue of documents.
Digi Locker, the virtual cloud storage for essential documents like Aadhaar Card, PAN Card, Driving Licence, EQ certificates, etc has been integrated in bid to ease out processing of passport application. At the time filing application, if a passport applicant chooses to have his/her documents electronically verified on Digi Locker, the applicant will necessitate to carry any document in person at the time of interview at PSK. Applicants can register an account on Digi Locker before submitting an application if they are not having it already.
Now at the time of filling application, a button “Fetch from the Digi Locker” will be displayed through which the selected document can be shared via Digi Locker. New system will also give double benefits that applicant will not have to carry physical documents and reduce the time needed for verification processes.
By the by, RPO has also cautioned against falling victim to fraudulent websites which are duping a large number of innocent passport applicants by charging hefty fees.
Some of these fake websites are registered in the domain name *.org, *.in, *.com such as www.indiapassport.org, www.online-passportindia.com, www.passportindiaportal.in, www.passport-india.in, www.passport-seva.in, www.applypassport.org and many other similar looking websites.