ATTOCK   -   “I had applied for passport in June this year but even after four months, I am still waiting to get it.” Omar Saeed a young man r/o village Mithial said this while talk­ing to this journalist. He said on the token received from Passport Office Attock, the expected deliv­ery date was July 2024 but he was clueless which door to knock on. Another elderly man Khan Bad­shah Khattak and his spouse Nusrat residents of village Chhab who intend to go to perform Umrah told this journalist that they applied for passports a few days ago and the delivery date on the token is November but the passport officials told them that they would get their passports in February or March next year. They said that now they were highly dejected as they were told if they want to get passports on an urgent basis then they should deposit Rs16000 in the bank and they would get their passports in a week. 

They said it seems government was minting money and not facilitating people. They said the passport, which should be received in one month, is received after five or six months. It seems that there is a deliberate delay in issuing passports so that people are forced to submit urgent and fast track fees. People who came from different areas to get passports told the journalists that the nor­mal fee for getting passports is Rs4500 and the receipt from the passport office says that the pass­ports will be received in one month, but practical­ly the passports will be received after five months. 

This is the reason people are forced to submit urgent or fast track fee which is Rs12500 as fast track passport is received within a week. People said that if the passport with urgent fee and fast track fee can be obtained quickly, then why the passport with normal fee is not received after one month and said that government was to­tally involved in this practice. People while talk­ing about other issues of the Passport Office said that the government was receiving millions of rupees from the passport office but there was no comfortable place to sit here, no clean drinking water and no washroom was available. The ill lit and ill ventilated waiting area is mostly in bad condition as sanitary worker of the passport of­fice is engaged in other activities. They said the tout mafia was openly busy in minting money from the people coming to apply for passports.

On the other hand, according to the sources of the passport office, 200 to 300 people including women and senior citizens, come to apply for passports every day and were depositing mil­lions in national exchequer. Sources said that in the last four months, 24,000 people have sub­mitted applications for seeking passports, out of which 10,000 people have received passports. While the rest are still waiting.