Surat: Residents in Navsari and Valsad will not have to visit all the way to Surat for passport related work. Following the approval of ministry of external affairs (MEA) and department of posts (DoP), the head post offices in Valsad and Navsari will soon have a dedicated Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) to serve the passport-seekers.Talking to TOI, regional passport officer (RPO) Anjani Kumar Pandey said, "We have visited the proposed POPSK sites in Navsari and Valsad for infrastructure. The POPSK services will be shortly available to people of Valsad and Navsari."Pandey said that the number of passports issued during 2017 has increased by almost 32 per cent at 1.81 lakh compared to 1.36 lakh during the same period in previous year. Around 1.47 lakh passports were issued to adults and 33,947 passports were issued to minors.The RPO further said that children below five years of age and disabled persons without forelimbs will not have to undergo biometrics procedure at the passport office. The MEA has also decided to grant a discount of 10 per cent in the passport fees for children below the age of eight years and applicants who are above the age of 60 years. "We have observed that a number of applicants in the region are finding it difficult to obtain passport as the rent agreement they are possessing is not a registered one. In order to obviate the hardships being faced by the bonafide applicants, the unregistered rent agreement shall also be accepted as valid proof of address," Pandey said. tnn

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