Agent mafia and application writers with the connivance of passport office staff are minting money from applicants.
A junior staff member of the Abbot Road Passport office, seeking anonymity, told APP on Friday, the agent mafia on both the premises (Abbot Road and Garden Town offices) had penetrated in the passport offices system and are looting the passport seekers.
Even the agents operating from outside the Garden Town passport office contact people in the office to get the illegal job done, he revealed. He said that agents help the applicants in getting their passports prepared and for this work they charge Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 while another Rs 1,000 for the issuance of an out-of-turn token and Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for the delivery of a passport.
An applicant Asghar Ali said told APP that whenever an applicant visits the passport office to receive his/her passport on the due date he/she is told by the counter clerk to wait for some more days but when any agent contacts, the passport can be collected the same day.
A source informed that for the out-of-turn token, the agents use two types of tactics; they make their own members stand in the queue early in the morning and whenever an applicant contacts them they charge them and replace their member(s) with the applicant(s); they also get the token issued through the window clerk after payment of his share.
Another applicant, Atif Ali said that people usually stand in long queues, but the agents facilitate only those who pay.
Applicant Sajida Saleem suggested the authorities to form a transparent way of delivery and passports should be displayed outside the offices on daily basis so that agents could not extort money.
When APP tried to contact the officers concerned by phone numbers given in the website to get their version, nobody bothered to attend the calls.
Agent mafia rules the roost at Lahore’s passport offices
