MIANWALI: The passport office set up in Mianwali in 2009 has yet to begin working because of the non-availability of the thumb impression recording devices, Dawn has learnt.

Passport seekers have to travel to Sargodha, 100 kilometers from Mianwali, spending more money on fares than on the passport fee, to get the travel document.

The Sargodha passport office caters to aspirants from Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali and Bhakkar districts.

The people of Mianwali first saw a ray of hope when the then state minister for foreign affairs Nawabzada Amad of Kalabagh got approved a passport office.

On March 28, 2009, the Immigration and Passport Headquarters director general hired a building for Rs40,000 per month rent for the office. The department installed air-conditioners and necessary gadgets at the office but kept it closed. The office was again inaugurated in Feb 2013 by the then interior minister Rehman Malik.

Staffers arrived at the office the same month and the Immigration and Passport Headquarters of Islamabad wrote to the head office of the National bank of Pakistan on Feb 20 to order its Mianwali branch to collect passport and visa fees from applicants. The staff never started work as thumb impression machines were dysfunctional. After a few days, the staff left the office.

Now, after the passage of one year, the office to-be is still locked and passport seekers have to travel to Sargodha.

Muhammad Kamran, in charge of technical department at the Passport and Immigration Headquarters, told Dawn the old version of biometric recording and authentication device for thumb impression was not available in America and the new software version would be ready within a month. Once the software is available, the office would be functional, he said.

Mr Kamran said there were 10 regional passport offices in different districts were closed due to the non-availability of authentication devices. He said he was optimistic that all regional passport offices, including that of Mianwali, would become functional in a month.

The landlord of the building of would-be passport office, Haji Hidayatullah, has not received any rent from the department since 2009.

“I handed over the building to passport authorities on March 28, 2009,” he said. He added that passport authorities did not pay him rent and he had now served legal notice to authorities to pay him rent Rs2.54 million. He said he was taking the matter to the court of law. Lawyer Sardar Nasrullah Khan said the government was punishing the people of Mianwali for their support to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the 2013 elections.