‘Agent mafia’ still at large around passport offices

[LRE]

‘Agent mafia’ still at large around passport offices

* Official says more than 300 agents working outside two offices
* People willing to pay for ‘help’ to save time and energy
* DGI&P addl director says agents backed by politicians, bureaucrats



By Hasan Ali

LAHORE: Despite the government’s tall claims to facilitate public in getting computerised passports and to get rid of the agent mafia, a large number of customers still have to depend on agents for getting their applications processed.

Agents were seen running the show at both the passport offices of the city – in Garden Town and Qila Gujjar Singh – who charged people for helping them in submitting the passport fee in the bank and getting the token from the passport office.

300 agents: More than 100 agents are helping people out at Garden Town, and more than 200 at the Qila Gujjar Singh, said a Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGI&P) official. He said that the agents offered their services to every customer arriving at the offices. “They charge Rs 300 to Rs 500 for submitting the fee in the bank and Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 for getting the token,” he said. “The relevant bank staff also gets Rs 200 per case from the agent, while the share of the person issuing tokens is Rs 500 per token.”

He said that people depended on those agents to save time, as people without agents had to stand in long queues at the banks and at the passport offices.

Better pay than wait: “I gave extra Rs 4,000 to an agent for five passports because I did not have time to stand in long queues,” said Nabia Abbas, a resident of Cavalry Grounds, standing outside Garden Town’s office. She said that she had tried to submit the fee and get a token on her own, but changed her mind after seeing long queues at the bank. “I was standing there when a teenage boy offered me help in submitting the fee and completing the process. When I agreed, he called his senior who demanded Rs 1,000 for each passport. After negotiations, he agreed to help me in processing my five passports for Rs 4,000 in addition to the original fee,” she said.

Zulfiqar Alvi, arguing with an agent outside Qila Gujjar Singh passport office, said that he had submitted the challan form in the bank after standing there for almost an hour and a half, but had no more time to waste. “Now I have hired the services of an agent to get the token,” he added.

He said that he had applied for two passports, one for him and the other for his wife, for which the agent was demanding Rs 1,500, but had agreed to help him for Rs 1,200.

Helpless: Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGI&P) Garden Town Additional Director Iqhlaq Ahmed Qureshi said that he had tried to eliminate the agent mafia, but was helpless because the agents were backed by reputed politicians and bureaucrats.

“I had got cases registered against some agents and officials of the passport office a few months ago. The police arrested them, but they were released after some days. Now the agents and the officials are still working here,” he said, adding that some agents had also threatened him for taking such steps.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg13_5