Directorate General Immigration and Passport has announced an innovative E-Passport System, which will be available to the masses in the next two months.
Ishrat Ali, the Director-General of Passport and Immigration made this announcement while briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior on Wednesday.
While briefing the parliamentary body about the performance of the new system, Mr. Ishrat said, “The system has been developed at a cost of Rs. 534 million and can be described as clean, secure and fully automated.”
He informed the committee that the new system has a particular chip that would help improve security.
The DG Passport said that for the time being, the department would run both new and old systems simultaneously.
He maintained that the fee for the E-Passport is a bit higher than the regular one.
Mr. Ishrat reflected the increase of demand and said the directorate had sought an allocation of Rs. 244.73 million to establish regional passport offices in Mandi Bahauddin, Sukkur, Muzaffarabad, Sialkot, Abbottabad, and Bannu.
Out of the total allocation, Rs. 150 million will be spent on Immigration Passport Complex (IMPASS).