‘Passport office enhance Shillong prestige’

SHILLONG, NOV 14: Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said the setting up of the Passport Seva Kendra in Shillong will enhance its prestige as a centre of progress, education and intellectual development.

“Shillong being the seat of North East Council is already an important hub in the region,” Swaraj’s said in her written speech at an official function held at the convention hall on Friday. She was slated to inaugurate the PSK office in Shillong but failed to land here due to bad weather.

Apart from Guwahati and Aizawl in Mizoram which have functional PSKs, Swaraj said the union government is planning to set up PSKs in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim and make them operationalised by early 2015 for better passport services.

Swaraj informed that India accounts for 14 per cent of passport issuance and the third largest passport issuing country after China and the US with over 5.7 crore passports users in India. She also said India is attaining one crore mark in issuance of passport during 2014.

Swaraj informed that the centre also propose to organize passport seva camps in various cities across the north east to take passport services closer home.

Underlining that North Eastern Region is strategically very important as the region borders three important neigbouring countries – China, Bangladesh and Myanmar, she said “Therefore, we need to factor in inputs from the points of view of foreign and defence policy, internal security and international trade.”

She said to this end, the immediate priority is to build the required infrastructure right up to the border areas, establishing connectivity and communication links to the cross-border points through which trade and economic exchanges as well as people to people contacts with the countries neigbouring the NE region are proposed to be promoted under the Look East Policy.

“This priority is to be accorded by all central agencies concerned and state governments because it is in NE India that South-East Asia begins and, as such, it is for the NE to be enabled to play the arrow-head role in the further evolution of this policy,” she said.

Moreover, she also sought the cooperation of the stakeholders in the NE region to scale up the infrastructure to reduce the time for verification process since at present police verification is central to passport issuance.

She also noted that Meghalaya is the first state in the region to have implemented the State Police Headquarters Model of Police Verification in June this year which would bring down the passport issuance time.

In order to improve passport services including police verification system, Swaraj said the centre is also proposing to set up 16 more passport seva kendras, with special emphasis on North East, introduction of new generation e-passport in 2015-16 and procurement of high capacity passport printers

In his address during the inauguration, Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma said the North East region is a key regional power in fostering ties and connecting India with South East Asia.

“In the past few years, there has been urgency for our country to foster closer ties with South East Asian nations. While the Look East policy has been the most important foreign policy to accelerate economic benefits, the NE is also becoming a key regional power,” Sangma said.

According to him, strong advances have been made towards establishing closer ties with the neigbouring countries like Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

“While all these efforts are welcome, it is also important to bear in mind that India’s connection with the South East Asia is through its North Eastern region, which has been long sort of neglected due to the region disadvantage of remoteness from the rest of the country,” he said.

Sangma said there is lack of adequate infrastructures and inadequate investments to address this bottleneck.

Stating that like any other seven states, Meghalaya is also facing the disadvantages of remoteness, he said, “The state has to generate not only internal trade with the other states in the region but also the country as a whole and also we must look at the prospect of external trade with neigbouring South Asian nations.”

The NE region of India provides a natural bridge between India and other South East Asian countries, he added.

Sangma further emphasized on the improvement of investment which can accelerate growth and reduces poverty and also harvest the economy of the state.

“Openness to trade can facilitate attraction of investments in the region and adoption of new technologies which can increase productivity,” Sangma said.

Stating that lack of proper infrastructure and connectivity with neigbouring countries has led to decrease in volume of trade, he said, “Therefore the state need to exploit strategic location in the right perspective. Connectivity is a key priority for ensuring the future growth and development of the state and the region.”

He also pointed out that the investments in the past years are welcome but much more is required to be done in this regard whether in respect of railway, road inland water ways, and air connectivity.

“The need to look at connecting Guwahati and our airports with the neigbouring countries is one issue which is pending with the Government of India,” he said.

Sangma also informed that trade and commerce across the border has actually been continuing since time immemorial in Meghalaya.

He said that the opening of border haats at Kalaichar in South West Garo Hills and Balat in East Khasi Hills District has not only improve the economic condition of the people but it has further strengthen the overall relationship of the people in the border  thus restoring the much needed social bond.

Stating that Meghalaya is the pioneer in further restoring and reestablishing these historical border haats, he said, “I am  happy to learn that out of 22 proposed new border haats, four more border haats located at South Garo Hill, South West Khasi Hills and two in East Khasi Hills District has been considered by the Indian government and the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh.”

He said the detail project reports of these new border haats are under preparation by the Meghalaya Industrial Corporation Limited.- By Our Reporter