Vijayawada, Jan 8: P Ashok Kumar who has been appointed incharge regional passport officer took charge on Friday.Passport officer Kennedy who was caught performing his duty in an inebriated state has been surrendered to the Hyderabad office. No officer likes to work here due to the heavy workload. The office receives 70 to 80 applications for passports daily and at least half a dozen employees are needed to process the applications.Ashok Kumar said once an application is received, it is forwarded to the Hyderabad office after a police enquiry.
Applications from Krishna, Guntur, Khammam, Prakasam and applications under the jurisdiction of Vijayawada commissionerate are received here. He denied that any application was pending and attrbuted the delay to the existing situation in the state, he added. He also justified the presence of agents and middlemen who help the applicants. He said his appointment is temporary and a permanent officer may be posted within ten days.Meanwhile, there is rumour that the passport office here would be closed and merged with the Hyderabad office as its functions include only processing the applications.