Only 100 out of the 800 people who had been called to the regional passport office, Calcutta, for the processing of their pending applications made through the post office, turned up at the Kolkata RPO on Wednesday.
The remaining 700 files that have been pending for several years would be closed on Thursday, passport officials said.
There are more than 20,000 pending applications made through post offices across the state, which the Calcutta passport office is trying to clear up by asking the candidates to turn up and produce documents and clarify doubts because of which the applications are pending.
All these applications that have been made through the post office passport seva kendra (PoPSK) are pending either because of the lack of documents or the lack of clarifications.
Regional passport officer, Kolkata, Ashish Middha, said only 107 applicants turned up for the clearance drive on Wednesday.
The 800 people who had been summoned through a letter sent to their registered addresses had been called earlier as well but had failed to turn up at the Brabourne Road office.
The 693 files whose applicants neither came nor emailed citing their reason for not showing up, would be closed, permanently.
The applicants can, however, reapply for fresh passports.
Passport officials said they will send letters to the next 800 applicants whose applications are pending since June 2023. The next date for the pendency clearance drive is likely to be in the third week of May.
A PoPSK is a passport office set up in a post office. There are 40 PoPSKs in Bengal, including two in Calcutta, at the Beadon Street and Regent Park post offices.
In the PoPSK service, the applications are transferred manually from most of the post offices to the passport office, which sometimes takes weeks. At other PSKs, the applications are transferred online to the respective police districts for verification within minutes of the interview. Only some PoPSKs have online facilities.
Bengal has only three PSKs — in Calcutta (Kasba), Siliguri and Behrampore.
