Patna, February 02, 2021: The Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Patna has registered a whopping 40 percent decline in the issuance of the passports this year. Apparently, Patna had topped in Bihar state for issuing the highest number of passports in the year 2020. But due to COVID-19 pandemic, the RTO registered a decline.

It issued only 1.67 lakh passports in Bihar as against 3.25 lakh which is annually issued.

According to the Regional Passport Officer Pravin Mohan Sahay, the office issues around 3.25 lakh annually. “Lockdown has directly impacted the issuance of the passport and thus the year 2020, we have registered a decline of about 40 per cent in the issuance of the passport.”

As per the data available with the ‘India reporting’, Patna stood first for issuing the highest number of passports in the year 2020. As many as 19,536 passports issued in Patna. Apart from this, Siwan becomes second for issuing 19,057 passports, Gopalganj stands third with 15,716 applicants receiving the passports. Sheikhpura is the lowest in terms of the passport issued. Only 460 applications were received and that many passports were issued in the year 2020.

“We have established 33 Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) in the 33 Parliament Constituencies. These offices have one officer from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and one officer from the Post Office. These offices receive around 1000 passport applications every day,” said Sahay.

Passport Issued in 2020

Patna- 19,536

Siwan- 19,057

Gopalganj- 15,716

Muzaffarpur- 8692

East Champaran- 7961

Saran- 7913

Darbhanga- 7653

Madhubani- 6575

Bettiah- 5985

Gaya- 5259

Sitamarhi- 4975

Purnea- 4562

Vaishali- 41286

Bhojpur- 3670

Rohtas- 3602

Samastipur- 3452