LAHORE: Director General (Immigration) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Friday paid a surprise visit to the passport office in Kasur.

During the three hours of his stay, Raja monitored operations, quality of services and overall working. He noticed insufficient seating arrangements for the public and no separate photo/token counter for women. He ordered provision of 50 more chairs and establishment of a separate counter for women.

He ordered Rs100,000 for clearing liabilities of the office. He also suspended three officials, including Syed Nusrat, head of the passport office in Karachi Saddar, for approving passports on stolen identities. These cases had been detected at the passports directorate general by a special cell established for the purpose.

An inquiry was also ordered against Fareed Shah, head of the Gwadar passport office, for approving five passports on stolen identities.

Since July 2013, a number of officials had been dismissed from service on charges of misappropriation and misconduct.