Bihar Police Creates History, Brings Passport Verification Time Down To Just 12 Days

On 24 June 2025, at the Passport Seva Project Conference in New Delhi organized by Ministry of External Affairs, Bihar Police was adjudged as one of the best state Police for verification of passport and related services.

2. This is the first time the state Police is being honoured for its passport and related services since the award’s inception in 2013. On behalf of Bihar Police, the award was received by IG, Special Branch, Shri Rakesh Rathi from MoS, MEA Shri Pabitra Margherita
3. DGP, Bihar Shri Vinay Kumar, has expressed his happiness on receiving the award. He stated, “Bihar has been doing pioneering work in the field of providing different services to public. It was the first state to enact Right To Public Services (RTPS) Act, 2011. Notified public services have been delivered in a time bound manner since 2011. The state police have been honored for providing the best passport and other related services to citizens. I would like to thank the MEA for recognising our dedication and efforts to provide hassles free passport verification services to citizens. Would also like to congratulate all my officers and staff who are seemlessly engaged in this endeavour”.
4. In 2024, Regional Passport Office Patna, sent 4.78 lakhs applications for police verification. In the last 5 years, this number has witnessed a 2.6 fold increase.
5. On an average, the state Police takes about 13 days for completing the verification process of one application. This average has continuously improved from 18 to 13 days in the last 5 years. The target set by Bihar Police and RPO Patna is to bring it down to a single digit figure at the earliest. Many states in the country like Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have achieved this laudable target.
6. As regards district-wise analysis of verification data, Siwan’s average verification time is 20 days and Khagaria’s average is the lowest at 05 days. This points at wide gaps among districts, a big factor being huge number of difference between the number of applications being received at Siwan, Gopalganj, East Champaran, West Champaran, Saran, Muzaffarpur and Madhubani districts with high volumes of emigrants for work.
7. In a bid to continuously improve capacities in the verification process of the state Police and thereby provide timely passport and related services to bonafide applicants, RPO Patna has been regularly organizing training sessions, in collaboration with the Special Branch, Bihar Police Academy and District Police and with technical support from TCS, for Police officials in charge of passport and related verification process. In the last few months, 4 such training sessions have been organized. Recently one such training was conducted to prepare for the launch of chip passports and a technologically updated Passport Seva Project portal across Bihar on 12 May. “More such sessions are in the pipeline in the coming months. And efforts are underway to institutionalize this and make this as part of the training curriculum of Bihar Police.”, said RPO Ms Swadha Rizvi.
8. She added, “Bihar Police has also been at the forefront in curbing passport related crimes by acting on complaints by this office against touts, applicants with fraudulently obtained passports, criminal passport-holders, etc. This, in turn, enables security agencies to control not only crimes within the state but also transborder crimes, thereby bolstering national security apparatus”.
9. This award is a well-deserved recognition of the good work done by Bihar Police personnel, tasked with verification of a crucial and sensitive document like the passport.

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