Permission needed for govt officials’ passport
Dhaka: From now on a government order (GO) would be needed along with a departmental no-objection certificate to get an official passport issued.
The home ministry issued a circular in this regard on March 24. It said every ministry will have a focal person to verify no-objection and GO, reported BSS.
The no-objection and GO would have to be displayed on the websites of the issuing authorities concerned, said Department of Passport and Immigration Director General Brig. Gen. Md. Masud Rezwan, at a press conference at Agargaon headquarters.
He said none but those working in the ministries, divisions, department, directorates, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies, names of which are published by the statistics and research cell of the ministry for public administration, will get official passports.
Official passports would be issued for those intending to go for official duties, medical treatment and on pilgrimage.
In other cases, ordinary passports would be given on the basis of non-objection certificates of the appropriate authorities.
Masud Rezwan said those working temporarily in different projects will get ordinary passports.
He said the validity of official passports will be for five years.
Replying to a question, he said none would be allowed to use hand-written passports. All should get machine-readable passports soon.
The director general said there is a plan to introduce passports with 10-year validity from the current year.
He said those involved in official passport forgery have already been sacked. More investigations are still continuing in this regard, he added.
Masud Rezwan said the authorities are considering appointing passport agents to reduce harassment of the people.