More than 1,30,000 passports were processed for the period 2015-2016 at the Coimbatore Passport Office, which has been honoured for the fourth time this year for exemplary public service.

The award ‘for achieving extraordinary standards of passport service delivery to the citizens’ was presented by the Ministry of External Affairs and won in the ‘C’ passport offices category on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas.

“An attitudinal shift among the staff towards customer service is the foremost reason for the successive recognition,” said S Sasikumar, regional passport officer, Coimbatore.

All the 23 employees of the office meet every month to identify problems and discuss solutions, said Sasikumar, attributing the regular communication as key to the efficient functioning of the office. The office works under the motto ‘Citizens First’ and to begin with, applicants are addressed as customers in the office, which Sasikumar believes raises their status and importance.

With a strong presence on the social media, the 11,000-sq-ft office is technologically well-equipped to handle not just applications but also queries and complaints.

Passports are normally processed in 30 days, but the Coimbatore office expedites the process to hand them over within 18 days. Additionally, passports applied under the Tatkal scheme is sometimes given on the same day as against the turnaround time of three days.

Trained staff deal with social networking services regularly, with the office’s Facebook site and Twitter handle answering queries without delay.

Emails are the main source of communication, said Sasikumar. “We handle about 40 to 50 queries every day, providing solutions then and there, or acknowledging the mails to address the issue at a later date.”

The office is also equipped with a 24/7 call centre. “We are connected to the people 24/7,” the officer said.

The queries are mostly related to status of the application, and documents required for applying for a passport with many from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for information on visa processing, he said.

Passport offices in India have eliminated unauthorized agents who took advantage of the delays in the processing to extort customers.

“Now it’s mandatory for the applicant to visit the office personally to have a photograph taken and give his fingerprint for biometric authentication.”

“Our success lies in the encouragement we get from the people of Coimbatore,” Sasikumar said.

“They are by nature very cultured and friendly, and we get a pat on the back from them for the speed and efficiency with which we delivered the services.”