LAHORE: Passport and visa offices are likely to start functioning in Sheikhupura and Nankana districts within three months or so after the interior ministry has given administrative and financial approval of expanding the Machine Readable Passport/ Machine Readable Visa Project under Phase III across the country.

The two new passport officeswithin Lahore region will reduce burden ofapplicantsatthe passport offices of the provincial capital.

To meet the growing shortage of staff for existing and new passport offices, the fresh recruitment of around 800 people including system engineers, data entry operators, upper division clerks, lower division clerks, steno typists, support staff and peons is currently taking place.

Side by side, the Directorate General Immigration & Passports has already got approval from the federal finance division to upgrade outdated IT equipment associated with MRP/MRV project across the country.

An official correspondence available with Dawn shows thatthe Planning Commission had approved the PC-1 of MRP/MRV project Phase III for establishment of 73 regional passport offices district-wise within Pakistan in June this year.

Under the Phase III, the DGIP has planned to establish 16 RPOs during September and December 2015 out of which seven passport offices -Sheikhupura, Nankana, Toba Tek Singh, Layyah, Khushab, Khanewal, and Rajanpur -are being established in Punjab.

Other new passport offices planned for the current year are Charsadda and Naushera, Lakki Marwat, Swabi, Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Dadu and Jaffarabad.

Central Region Passport Punjab Deputy Director Ikhlaq Qureshitold Dawn that the most suitable building on rent had been identified in Nankana and the place was being finalised in Sheikhupura.

He said the finance ministry had already approved budget for new passport offices, adding that the two facilities in Sheikhupura and Nankana would get functional within two to three months to reduce workload on Abbot Road and Shahdarapassportofnces.

Qureshi said up to 200 applicants from Sheikhupura district usually visited the Abbot Road Passport Office and up to 100 applicants from Nankana district turned up at Shahdara`s facility daily which increased workload of the staff dealing with a large number of applicants from Lahore.