Friday, February 17, 2012

Is this India ? If we want, we can

This is an image of a standard Seva Kendra.

My wife Padma and I had to go to the Passport Office to get her Passport renewed. I was so totally taken aback at the experience.

For a start there was no need to get a form and sit and patiently fill it up, go for Passport photographs etc. All this was done On line , from the comfort of our home. A receipt acknowleding the same was also Printable and Printed.

Then the appointment - a fixed time appointment is given and we go across to any of the three Passport seva kendras - we opted for the one at Nelson Manickam Road , just behind Ampa Plaza. There are two more, one each at Tambaram and Saligramam.

What a sight welcomed us !!!! A superbly appointed , neat Office with Smiling Staff who went out of the way to find out what our problem/need was. I found out that they were all employees of TCS and that TCS has been given the Front Office Management. We were there on Wednesday 15th of February. We entered the process at 12.01 PM and went through 3 Stages. A , B and C. The latter two being manned by Government employees who were again helpful and courteous.
In the first section they checked the documents , took a passport sized snap , Finger prints and off we went to the next section. A notice board kept blinking our token number and the counter to which we had to go next.

Then to C and we were through with a small exit counter where they gave a form and asked for our feedback. It took a grand total of 35 Minutes.

Just about an Hour ago the passport came by speed post. we had applied for the Tatkal scheme, I am told re issue of Passports takes a week only in the normal course and Tatkal is 3 days.
A classic case of Privatizing the front end without loss of Control and Security. The most important factor being the Cost is still the same Rs 1000 for re issue and an additional for a Tatkal that we needlessly asked for.

I am proud of my India.

A clear case that if we want , WE CAN.

23 comments:

ISR Selvakumar said...

I am always proud of my India sir!
We taught so many things to the rest of the world and learning few things from them too.

Disciplined administration is on such thing, which is seen as the image of a country, after globalization.

We the Indian public responded to the change very late, but we are catching up!

Wait for 2020! We will see a new young and energetic India.

Ejji said...

Yes! When the government deals in toto, there will be total chaos. With TCS there, things are working fine right now. I'm an optimist. Let's wait and see what happens later on, TCS being there not withstanding. The last mile with the government "has to be there". No way out. Some smart Alec (read 'babu'), will find a way to put some hurdle somewhere, and TCS will walk out! Formula One 2011 in India is a classic example of how a perfect job can be if only you have the guts to 'order' the government to keep off. Sri Lankan Post franchise system is another good example of a well run government cum private enterprise. Ejji

Anonymous said...

I got couple of same views about Passport seva kendra.This is really a welcome move.

Gopal said...

so happy that things are better than the serpentine queues sometimes winding down the stairs as there were not enough space at the passport office/ Gopal

Sridhar Iyer said...

Thechnology has advanced and its for us to encash it. Gone are the days when it used to take months for one file to move another table. I vividly recollect that it used to take several months for a passport to be issued.

the kasl said...

Yes. very happy to see the change as you have mentioned. There is a lot more to be done in our country, but then when good things are seen, we should feel proud.

JAGGU said...

Good one. Hope everyone experiences. Wish it could extend to other areas
viz RTO office / Civil Supplies etc.Looking forward to hearing the service providers saying " What can we do for you -I am here to serve ". Hope everyone puts in his efforts and avoid criticizing.

Jaggu

Unknown said...

It is an eye opener Mohan sir.We only complain 90% of the time but only 10% appreciate their experience and keep others well informed.I have seen the mess at Shastri Bhavan passport office and to get form, fill in without tout's help was difficult as otherwise one gets lost in the milling crowd.Employ capable private sector 'as a legal tout'with modern facilities and you end up smiling and you see no crowd.In such circumstances urgent and ordinary gets merged and no sweet money needed in the process.We can even 'starve' here even if lunch hour intervenes as 'corruption' is shown the backdoor.

Mukundan said...

Great experience Sir!
Proud and hope similar things happens in other areas also - slowly but surely will happen!

ganeshram said...

If you had told me this earlier, I would have avoided going thro' a Travel Agent-gram

Unknown said...

wow..That's really surprising...We are always used to agents and clouts hanging around..Hope this is the state of affairs to come in the future for our driving license,id card,ration card etc...

Maheswaran said...

I wonder how you got appointment through passport seva..it always fails for me. I try at their stipulated time. Strangely I see captcha errors during that time.

Maheswaran said...

I wonder how you got appointment through passport seva..it always fails for me. I try at their stipulated time. Strangely I see captcha errors during that time.

Maheswaran said...

I wonder how you got appointment through passport seva..it always fails for me. I try at their stipulated time. Strangely I see captcha errors during that time.

shyamala said...

Great sir....hope this continues and we all experience this sunshine

umasha1 said...

Very plesant to here. But yes we are really capable and second to none. However at times, the attitude spoils it all. Hope this spirit continues and the people benefit. Let the passport office be a fore runner and let all government departments follow suit. Jai Hind

Suresh said...

Thanks for sharing your experience - a good one considering we are always bombarded with bad news about India all the time. We are as individuals among the best in the world - no doubt. What would really benefit us is to consistently perform collectively well as a team to bring about Systemic Excellence. Lets make it happen... Go India ...

Karthik said...

Saare Jahan Se Achha...
...Hindustan Hamara

Karthik said...

Saare Jahan Se Achha...
...Hindustan Hamara

Hari L said...

Hi Sir, I had heard of this from my colleague. Glad to know that it has survived a month. But as one of the others posted above, it needs to be sustained. As Vadivelu would have put it, 'Un Opening nalla dhaan paa irukku, aanaa finishing sari illaiye"...hope this performance continues & TCS is held on to...Thanks Hari

Hari L said...

Hi Sir, I had heard of this from my colleague. Glad to know that it has survived a month. But as one of the others posted above, it needs to be sustained. As Vadivelu would have put it, 'Un Opening nalla dhaan paa irukku, aanaa finishing sari illaiye"...hope this performance continues & TCS is held on to...Thanks Hari

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shankara said...

Very true sir! I live in Singapore and the Indian Embassy is also fast in renewing Indian passports. TCS have also got feelers to repeat their Indian Success with the Indonesian and Thai Embassies.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.