Passport Office
A Passport is the single most important thing required if you are thinking of traveling out of India. A Passport is basically a travel document which is issued by the Government of the country in which you reside and it entitles you to travel to other countries. Thus this document has been signed by the government of your country and requests the Government of another country to let you go through.
There is a difference between Passport and a Visa. A passport is issued to a citizen of a country as a proof that he/she belongs to that country. Such kind of identification is necessary while crossing borders. But, the Visa is specific to a country or a group of countries. The Visa is sought after request from that particular country's embassy and then only are you allowed to set foot in that country. A passport basically entitles you to travel abroad and a Visa grants you the right to enter a particular country or a group of countries.
Seven years after India gained Independence in the year 1947, in the year 1954, the first Passport offices were set up in the country. A passport office is basically the place where the passports are issued. In 1954-1955, there were five passport offices set up all across the length and breadth of the nation. These passport offices were located in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Chennai and at Nagpur. The passport offices have now been opened through out the country in important cities, thus making it easier for the people to apply for the passports. In all major cities like Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Lucknow as well as Patna, the passport offices are now present. These passport offices based in their regions are responsible for not only all the citizens of that city but also for the citizens of the neighbouring districts.
The
passport Offices are generally open five days a week from Monday to Friday but
are shut over the weekends. The Passport offices are where the sale and the
submission of the application form takes place and also the issuing of the
Passport takes place. The passport once issued will be renewed after ten years,
which is generally the stipulated life of the passport. But, if in the mean
time the passport gets lost, stolen or mutilated then an additional passport
can also be offered. An extra form has to be filled and the fees for a new
passport will also be needed to be filled.
The passport offices have sprung up in many cities and made traveling easier. The issuing of the passport may take some time and hence if there is an emergency and the passport needs to be ready urgently, then this can be done though the Tatkaal Scheme. At the time of Emergency the Tatkaal Scheme can be made use of where in after paying an additional extra fee, the passport will be issued within a few days which is much quicker than the ordinary way.