KARACHI, April 23: The Interior Secretary, Syed Kamal Shah, on Saturday ordered the removal of Deputy Director of Immigration and Passport, Karachi, G.M. Joyo, on charges of inefficiency and dereliction of duty. A spokesman for the interior secretary said that Mr Joyo had been asked to immediately report to the headquarters in Islamabad.

He said that the interior secretary also asked the DG immigration and passport that the reliever of Mr Joyo be provided immediately.

Mr Shah had earlier paid a surprise visit to passport offices at the Awami Markaz and Saddar here on Saturday.

He personally checked the system of preparation and delivery of passports to the citizens, and went around various sections.

Mr Shah met all the applicants and inquired about the problems being faced by them and took a serious notice of the delay in handling applications by the concerned staff.

During the visit, he noticed that four AC split units installed in August last were not working properly. Similarly, the public address system was also out of order.

The interior secretary found some employees of the immigration and passport office missing from their seats for hours.

He directed the DG immigration and passport to send the project director from Islamabad to put things in order within 48 hours.

The project director was also asked to visit these offices on April 25 and take concrete steps to resolve the problems.

Mr Shah also called the NADRA project director to passport office at the Awami Markaz during his visit and directed to streamline and take measures which NADRA was required to do.

He also directed the chairman of NADRA to inquire into the conduct of NADRA area manager relating to non-functioning of the AC split units in the passport office.

The interior secretary also received complaints about delivery of the passports at the office located in Saddar on which he directed the concerned staff to ensure that the delivery of passports be made without any delay to the applicants.

He said that such surprise visits would be made to all offices working under the ministry in Sindh and those found neglecting their duties would be taken to task.

Mr Shah further directed that due respect be paid to the senior citizens and preference be given to them over other applicants.

Meanwhile, it was informed to the secretary that official timings for entertaining applications for passports on Fridays had been from 9am to 11am.

He directed that the schedule on Fridays should be from 8.30am to 11.30am with immediate effect.—APP