People applying for a passport can now take a sigh of relief as they no longer would have to wait in queue for up to 15 hours to submit their application.

The government has, from Monday, brought into operation six application collection centres at the Passport Department at the Narayanhiti Palace.

Officiating Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shankar Das Bairagi inaugurated the centres today.  Speaking on the occasion, Bairagi said that the application collection centre has been expanded keeping in view the high number of applicants.

He announced that such centres would be operated at Koteshwar, Kalanki, Samakhusi, Satdobato and other densely populated areas along the Ring Road in the near future.

Director General of the Passport Department Ramesh Prasad Khanal said the department planned to print more passports considering the swelling number of applicants. He said daily more than 2,000 people apply for passports.

The government has been issuing machine-readable passports (MRPs) since three years. The Department collected Rs. 6 billion from passport fees in the last three years. RSS