Coimbatore : The Centre is proposing to issue e-passport very soon, as issued in a few western countries and the necessary infrastructure for it is being created, a top official in the Regional Passport Office said Monday.

The new e-passport will have a microchip on its cover with all personal details of passport holder and no tampering, damage on the details can be done in the chip, Regional Passport Officer G Sivakumar told reporters here.

Stating that there was also a proposal to extend Post Office Passport Seva Kendras in order to extend the services on a large scale and ensure a wider area coverage, he said Salem, Rasipuram, Coonoor and Erode in the region already have such facility and Tirupur and Pollachi are in the pipeline.

About 20 per cent of the passports are issued through the Kendras, he said.

The Regional Passport Office in Coimbatore was recently awarded the ‘Best Performing Passport Office’ award for the sixth consecutive time, he said adding that its lowest ‘entry to exit’ time was 21 minutes as against the national average of 60 minutes was one among the many key parameters for the award.

The office has received 12,00,490 applications and issued 11,71,536 passports from September since inception in 2008 to 14 September 2018, Sivakumar said.