Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said her government had plans to introduce electronic passports to ensure safe and hassle-free travel abroad.
The prime minister made the announcement at the inauguration of the newly constructed buildings of divisional passport and visa office as well as nine regional passport offices at the Department of Immigration and Passports in Agargaon, Dhaka, reported UNB.
She also inaugurated Passport Service Week 2016.
With the inaugurations of such office buildings, people living in the areas where the new regional offices are located no longer need not to come to Dhaka to get their passports, the prime minister said while addressing the event.
Recalling how she got her passport in 1969, Hasina said she had to take permission from Karachi to get a passport and then had to travel all the way to Karachi to collect it.
She said since the use of MRPs has become indispensable after November 24 last year following the recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, her government faced the challenge of providing MRPs to expatriate Bangladeshis before the deadline expired, and succeeded.
Terming passport and visa as very essential documents for going abroad, Hasina said her government had been working tirelessly to reach passport services at the doorsteps of people
She extended her heartfelt thanks to the officials and employees of the Department of Immigration and Passports for successfully issuing some 140,000 MRPs and 326,000 MRVs so far – an exceptional achievement.
However, she took a swipe against some of the media which doubted if the government would be able to issue MRPs to such a huge number of Bangladeshi expats within the deadline. "Since they criticise us, they should also appreciate our good works."
Hasina directed the officials and employees of the Department of Immigration and Passports to render better services to people imbued with motto of serving the country applying their highest efficiency and professionalism.
Terming passport and visa as very essential documents for going abroad, Hasina said her government had been working tirelessly to reach passport services at the doorsteps of people. "Getting passport is the right of every citizen and a very important government service to people."
She said like other sectors, the passport office too had become the den of corruption and irregularities, falling into the hands of middlemen syndicates during the military regimes after 1975 and during the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
Highlighting the successes of her government in bringing discipline in the activities of this department, she said it has achieved unprecedented success over the last seven years.
The prime minister also said national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines had been asked to introduce e-ticket service since the machine readable passports (MRPs) and machine readable visas (MRVs) were already in use. “The e-ticketing is aimed at reducing harassment of passengers and corruption to a large extent.”
