11.94 lakh passports issued in Punjab last year

11.94 lakh passports issued in Punjab last year
Chandigarh: Defying the Aam Aadmi Party slogan of “Returning to the Roots”, Punjabis’ dream to fly to greener pastures abroad has seen them set a record of sorts in getting passports.

During 2023, 11.94 lakh new passports have been issued to residents of the state, according to a data released by the Ministry of External Affairs. This is the highest number of passports ever issued in the state.

Punjab ranks fourth in terms of getting the maximum passports issued last year, after Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Since these are big states, the percentage of population getting a passport in Punjab is the highest.

At present, there are 55 lakh households in the state. The number of passports issued in the past 10 years is 81.20 lakh. Since a fee of Rs 1,500 has to be paid to get a passport issued, a sum of Rs 1,218 crore has been paid by Punjabis for the purpose. In 2023, the amount of fee paid by Punjabis for getting the passport is Rs 179.10 crore.

Before 2023, the highest number of passports issued in the state was in 2018 when 10.69 lakh passports were issued. In 2019, 9.46 lakh passports were issued. For the next two years – when Covid pandemic was raging – the number dipped to 4.82 lakh and 6.44 lakh for 2020 and 2021, respectively.

It is believed that now it is not the youth but more of elderly relatives of Punjabi youths settled abroad, after competing their education in foreign lands, who are getting new passports.