KATHMANDU, JANUARY 20
The Department of Passports personalised a total of 6,806,913 machine readable passports till fiscal 2020-21.
In fiscal 2020-21 alone, the DoP issued a total of 339,175 passports, which included 348,147 ordinary, 603 official, and 348 diplomatic passports along with 77 travel documents.
According to Report on Nepal's Foreign Affairs (2020- 21) recently published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the DoP collected revenue of over Rs 1 billion during the period.
The DoP issues passports through 77 district administration offices, 19 area administrative offices, and 40 Nepali diplomatic missions abroad.
Emergency passport services are available directly from the DoP. Travel documents are provided both from the DoP and Nepali missions abroad.
As per the report, the DoP focused its efforts on delivering prompt and quality services adopting a simple, reliable, transparent and customer-oriented application process throughout the year. Quality System Manual and Standard Operating Procedures, including various types of simplified forms, have been developed.
Telephone, email and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have been used to facilitate and serve clients.
"Citizens' Charter and Service Flow Chart have been effectively implemented. Public problems and grievances have been promptly addressed through the Grievance Management Unit formed under the DoP director general. Emphasis has been given to continuous improvement of services in compliance with international rules and regulations set by ICAO and other relevant bodies. The department has arranged online payment through Revenue Management Information System and introduced Connect IPS for payment related to passport services," it reads.
Similarly, the online system that was introduced for verification of applicant's citizenship and signature has been further developed to provide easy, accessible and prompt service delivery. The DoP is the sole government body for receiving ISO accreditation from Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology. In the reporting period, the DoP had initiated the process for procurement of two million eMRTDs (Electronic Machine Readable Passport). The DoP had also initiated preparatory works for the issuance of Seaman's Record Book for Nepalis working in various shipping offices in different countries in line with the existing legal provisions, international treaties, agreements and standards.
As per the report, the DoP has adopted zero-tolerance policy in cases of corruption, bribery, fraud, and other immoral acts or conduct. Regular orientations and trainings have been provided to staffers in a bid to enhance efficiency, positivity, and productivity in service delivery. Other major activities of the DoP during the last fiscal include consultations with the concerned agencies of the Government of Nepal to control forged documents during passport application and to integrate the e-passport database system into National ID Management Information System.
The DoP has also started preparation for establishment of the Passport Museum through collection and storage of previously used passports, passport-related articles, memos, books/booklets ancient passports, passports used by high-level authorities in the past, and sample passports of foreign countries, among others.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 21, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
