He said the ministry had thought out an ``action plan to attack the root causes of inconvenience to the public and the delays in the processing of passport applications.'' Tayal said that the ministry would soon authorise some reputed printers and publishers to print and distribute passport applications through retail outlets in the country. The agencies would need clearance from the Intelligence Department to undertake the job and this would be one major step towards preventing touts from black-marketing application forms, which are actually available free of cost. The forms will be available at anominal cost of Rs 3 to 7 and the facility will be available within a month, he added.

In another sweeping reform, the centre is all set introduce Passport Collection Centres throughout India which will be first put to test in Delhi. There are already 13 Passport Collection Centres in India and the Government has decided open three more centres, one each in North, West and East Delhi. At these centres, the applicant will also be able to obtain the status of his application. ``The public will have to pay a small handling fee not more than Rs 50,'' he said.

As for computer printed passports, the department will have a private party to undertake the job, within the premises of the various passport offices. The contractor would be given a set of passports every morning for printing, which will be collected in the evening.

Passport offices will now have equipment for machine in-filling of passports with a scanned photograph and signature of the applicant.``Once the reliability and performance of theequipment is confirmed the same would then be installed at other passport offices also,'' said the joint secretary. He said, the move would allow staff currently writing passports to take up work to speed the process.