Passport Seva Kendra

From June 21, online payment system will be applicable for taking appointments at Ghaziabad, Herald House ITO, Shalimar Place, Gurgaon, Bikaji Cama Place, Lalbagh, Sai Arcade, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Raipur, Shimla, Bareilly, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur and Gorakhpur offices.

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With the launch of online payment-based appointments, applicants will be required to make payment at the time of booking appointment on the government's website. "With this, only genuine applicants will book the appointment and number of no-shows will reduce," the statement said.

Link

I don't have anything against applicants being required to make payment at the time of booking appointment. My problem is with the statement - ONLY GENUINE applicants will book the appointment.

From all the stories that highlight the issues involved in actually getting through the website to make an appointment - I seriously doubt there would be individuals who are just clicking away and booking appointments for the fuck of it. Given that they are taking all this time and effort, isn't it obvious that they would be 'genuine applicants'?!

The article goes on to say:

"Further, instead of an applicant choosing the date and time slot of appointment, the system will automatically give the earliest available appointment" - Err… and what if the person wants to book the appointment for a later date? The applicant MAY NOT want to come in on the earliest available date. The applicant MAY have plans or other appointments. The article doesn't mention that the applicant has the option to change the date/time or request another date/time.