Address Proof Card Launched
Postmaster General of Western Region S.Ramanujan (third left) launching the proof of address card at a function in the city on Tuesday. (From left) Director of Postal Services Mervin Alexander, Passport Officer B.Balamurugan, Senior Area Manager of Indian Oil Corporation S.Lakshminarayanan and Senior Superintendent of Post Offices G.Gurunathan (right) are in the picture. Department of Posts will issue proof of address cards to those residing in the city and applying for it. Launching the card here on Tuesday, Postmaster General for Western Region M. S. Ramanujan said the card was introduced in Chennai in October and by the end of November 5,500 people had taken the card and another 5,000 had applied. The card had the Government of India stamp and was signed by the Head Post Master.
“We have written to all agencies such as banks and telecom not to turn down this card for address proof and to disseminate information about it to grass root level offices,” he said. The Department had done address proof verification for agencies such as the State Election Commission. Depending on the response from the people to the new scheme, the proof of address card would be extended to people living in a couple of other neighbouring districts as well, in due course. The processing time was 10 days and the department was building a computerised database.
This would help in carrying out any verification that needed to be performed at any point of time. In addition to this, the department was also working out the charges to be fixed for renewal. In Chennai, a couple of Information Technology companies had approached the department and requested them to issue the card to all their employees. “Very soon this card will be available on corporate tie-ups too,” he said. The processing fee and card cost of Rs. 240 should be paid at the time of submitting the application.
All areas under the Corporation limits of the city would be covered and the cards would be made available at Coimbatore Head Office and R.S. Puram Head Office. Indian citizens aged above 18 could apply for the new proof of address card. The applicants should affix two stamp size colour photographs in order to help in identification of the holder of the card. he Head Postmaster would issue the card after address verification by the Public Relations Inspector (Postal). The card would be valid for three years or till the date of change of address. Those who needed more details could dial 0422-2552750, 2542838, 2541208 or mail to: bdwr@ rediffmail.com
Handing over the first few cards here, B. Balamurugan the Passport Officer, Coimbatore, said 16 documents were needed for obtaining a passport through the tatkal system. fforts were being taken to include the proof of address card as the 15th document. Senior Area Manager of Indian Oil Corporation, Coimbatore, S. Lakshminarayanan said the corporation was also trying to include it in the authorised address proof list.
