Assam Police arrange 'Mela' to clear off pending passport applications

Silchar, Oct 31: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in Cachar district, the Assam Police organised a one-day Passport Mela on Sunday to accelerate the police verification and checking of other documents for the applications for passport which were pending for a over long time.

People, young and old who had applied for their passports thronged the venue to get their verification done. " It is an impressive step and we are happy to find the facilities to have our documents verified," said some of the applicants.

In the event held in the premise of office of the Superintendent of Police Cachar, SP Numal Mahatta while stating the objective, said, " this step has been taken to mitigate the harassment faced by the nationals whose applications were lying pending for a long time. We have invited 1,600 applicants to come for today's mela and get their verification done so that they get their passports in quick time. Honourable Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma sir is clear with the objective of providing service to the people at the doorstep and as such Cachar Police is at the service of the people 24x7. We hope that the initiative becomes a grand success and give the much needed relief to the people awaiting their verification for long time."

Silchar MP Dr Rajdeep Roy termed the initiative a pro people one and congratulated Cachar Police for reaching out to the people in such a manner.

Silchar MLA Dipayan Chakraborty recalled the promise made by former Union Minister late Sushma Swaraj who in her visit to Silchar back in 2015 and eventually the Passport Office came up back in 2017 here. Lakhipur MLA Kaushik Rai said that there were times in the past when people seeking passports had to face tremendous harassment but the State Government headed by Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has brought about a phenomenal change in providing service to the people. " I congratulate Cachar SP Numal Mahatta and his Police team for taking such an initiative which will add fillip to the Police-People relationship and also lessen the worries of the applicants related to their passports verification processes," Rai maintained.