A new passport office was opened at district Collectorate Building here on Sunday amid much enthusiasm of the people.Deputy Commissioner (DC) M. Ehsan-e-Elahi formally inaugurated the office by cutting a red tape as the chief guest.A machine readable passport can be issued to a person within 30 days after submitting Taka 3,000 with Sonali Bank, Gaibandha main branch, as fee and completing other formalities including police verification, passport office sources said.The office can issue a passport against a person within 10 days if the applicant submits TK 6,000 as fee with the bank.Speaking on the occasion, DC M. Ehsan-e-Elahi said the intended persons could apply online for passports.He also urged the officials concerned to perform their duty with transparency and accountability in the case of issuing passport. With the opening of the passport office, a long standing demand of the people here was fulfilled as the locals had to Rangpur Divisional city to take their passport, he added.Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Abu Bakar Siddique, Additional District Magistrate Farid Uddin Ahmed, deputy director of local government section Moklesur Rahman and other officials of DC office attended the inaugural ceremony. -BSS, Gaibandha
