Muhammad Atiqur Rahman:
People who come to apply for passports are suffering due to the violence of brokers at the Gazipur Regional Passport Office. Service recipients claim that if they apply for passports themselves, they are harassed on various pretexts; but if they apply through brokers, everything is done in the blink of an eye. For this, the brokers have to pay one to one and a half thousand taka.
The new building of the District Passport Office was inaugurated in January 2024 after the construction of the new building in the Paler Math area of ​​the Joydevpur-Dhaka road. The activities are now underway here. Earlier, the activities were conducted in a small building in the North Chhayabithi area of ​​the city.
Ariful Islam from Raonat village in Durgapur union of Kapasia upazila came to the passport office last Wednesday (May 7). He said, “I came at 9 am and stood in line to get my fingerprints and photograph taken. I hope that line never ends. I finish work at 1:30 pm and return home. However, those who paid the broker, finish their work within 10 to 15 minutes and leave.”
Riyad Mia, a resident of Pagar area of ​​Tongi, already has a passport. He brought his wife Nipa Akhter to this office on Wednesday to apply for her passport. But he could not submit the file or take a photo after standing in line for a long time. The next day, I spoke to Riyad. He said, “I went on Wednesday morning and waited until 1:30 pm to submit the file, so I left. I came on Thursday morning and waited for more than two hours and finished the work.” He also said, “Someone asked for 1,000 taka to finish the work quickly. But I did not give the money. Even though it was difficult, I finished the work without money.”
On the spot, people are standing in a line inside the office. From that line, an Ansar member is sending them inside with a serial number. After waiting for an hour, the documents are being checked and sent for fingerprinting and photographing. It takes two to two and a half hours to take fingerprints and photographs. However, those who spend more than one to one and a half thousand taka through a broker are going straight to the fingerprinting and photographing room.
25 to 30 small shops have been set up on both sides of the road in front of the office. In these shops, brokers and their associates are sitting with computers. In these shops, service seekers are filling out passport forms through brokers. The brokers deposit the money in the bank.
A young man named Fazle Hasan from Mouchak area of ​​Kaliakoir wants to increase his age to apply for a passport. For this, some work will have to be done, including correcting his national identity card. This will take a few months. However, it can be done in seven days through computer shops and brokers established next to the passport office. This requires additional money. To verify this, you need to hide your identity and stand in front of the office to verify the authenticity. There are more than fifty computer shops around the office. Brokers stay at the passport office every day, keeping in touch with these shops. They fool people who come to get services and extort extra money. While staying there, they met a broker named Masum. When he told him about increasing his age on the passport, he told him that it was not an issue.
Broker Masum said, ‘Go to the Bismillah computer in front and tell me, the work will be done.’ Based on his words, he went to the computer shop and introduced Masum, and after introducing himself, he let him sit on the chair. Md. Johnny, who was in the computer shop, said, ‘Masum is our man.’ Later, when asked if he could extend his age by one year, he said, ‘Of course, it will be possible. But you will have to spend money. It will cost 32,000 taka to extend the age of the voter ID card and passport. You will pay half the money in advance, and you will get the passport within a month.’ Johnny also said, ‘If you increase it by another 2,000, you will get the passport in 15 days.’
Nasrin Parvin, deputy director of the Gazipur Regional Passport Office, said, “It may take some time as the pressure of service recipients has increased a lot over the past few days. However, it should not take two-three hours. The violence of the brokers may have occurred earlier. However, after I came here, I will not allow the brokers to enter under any circumstances.”
Views: 3
