ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The delay in issuance of passports has become a serious problem, with more than a quarter million applicants waiting for their travel documents.

Sources told Dawn that this all-time high backlog was likely to swell in the days ahead.

According to them, each day 15,000 to 20,000 Pakistanis apply for the passport but only about 5,000 passports are issued, mainly due to the issuance of a limited amount of lamination paper by the Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP).

They said the backlog began mounting a few weeks ago and now it was taking about two months to dispose of an ‘ordinary’ passport application and two weeks or more to dispose of an ‘urgent’ application. The main reason for the delay was the non-payment of around Rs640 million to the PCP, they said. The delay was creating serious problems for the applicants because many of them wanted to go abroad for medical treatment, employment or immigration.

Wajid Hussain Bokhari, the director general (passports), was not available for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him.

Frequent shortage of passport material, the overloaded online system through which verification of applicant data was sought from the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and shortage of staff were contributing to the delays, said the sources.

Some applicants told Dawn that they were not given passports even on the delivery dates mentioned on the receipts issued by the authorities.

A source pointed out that the number of passport offices in the country had increased to 69 from 26 in 2004, and if foreign missions were included, then the total number went up to 100. The sanctioned strength of the staff for these offices, however, remained static at 799. A study carried out by a group of employees of establishment division recommended that the number of staff be increased to 1,500.

While the delay is a bane for applicants, it is a boon for an organised network of agents who get travel documents issued to their clients on a priority basis, in collusion with officials. Such agents charge handsome amounts and those ready to pay up get their passports whenever they need them.

Another source said that last year the department earned over Rs15 billion and issued 3.5 million passports in the process. The revenue was set to register a significant jump after an increase in the fee for an ordinary application from Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 and that of an urgent application from Rs4,000 to Rs5,000, he said.