JEDDAH, 6 May 2007 – Syed Patel, a middle aged driver hailing from Gulbarga in the southern state of Karanataka, was the first Indian expatriate to receive a machine readable passport when the new system was introduced at the Consulate General of India yesterday.
“I am thrilled to have the passport that is machine readable as it will be free of errors and fraud,” Patel told Arab News as he received his passport from Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed.
The new system was introduced in Riyadh in July last, more than a year after it was first introduced by any overseas Indian mission, in the UK, the consul general told a press conference later.
A team comprising R. Prasithlal, Nagendra Singh and Vijay Agarwal arrived from New Delhi last week to undertake computerization of the passport and visa wings at the consulate. “The team has been able to introduce the new MRPs within a few days of their arrival,” Sayeed said. According to the consul general, new passports are machine printed and machine readable, neat and error-free, and bear scanned photos and signatures of the applicants.
“Under the new system, it will be difficult to forge the passports, will reduce the processing time and thus provide quick and prompt service, and help quick immigration clearance as it meets international standards set by International Civil Aviation Organization,” he said
A machine readable passport is one where the data on the identity page is encoded in optical character recognition format. Inside the passport there is a laminated page containing the holder’s scanned picture, passport number, name, nationality, sex, signature, date and place of birth and the document’s issue and expiry date.
At the bottom of this page are two lines of printed numbers and letters which can be read by a computer when the passport is swiped through a special machine by immigration officials.
Sayeed said many countries had introduced these new security features to check the use of tampered and counterfeit travel documents by passengers with “dubious” background. “After a few days, the consulate will start issuing machine printed and machine readable visa stickers as well,” he added. “They are the safest ever.”
Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan, Consul (Haj, P&I), R.S. Kharayat, consul counselor, and Vice Consul P.S. Chauhan were among those present at the brief ceremony.
Chauhan said 150 to 175 passports were being issued at the consulate daily. In addition, almost 100 emergency certificates (ECs) are issued daily at the consulate which also receives about 10 cases of passport losses per day. ECs are issued to those without travel documents or stranded at the local deportation center.
