Citizens can now get a new passport within three days of police verification, or on the same day under “tatkal” scheme, as the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday signed an agreement with Tata Consultancy Services.

Under the project, applicants will get new passports within three days of police verification while under the tatkal scheme the travel document will be made available to the applicant on the same day.

TCS, which bagged the Rs 1,000 crore e-governance project, will open 77 new fully computerised Passport Seva Kendras across the country by January 2010.

The Government aims to nearly quadruple the number of passport counters to 1,250 from the current 345 and bring the entire process of issuing the travel document online. It also wants to cut down the waiting time to 45 minutes for an applicant.

Bangalore and Chandigarh will be the first cities to get the new Passport Seva Kendras by June 2009 which will be functional on a pilot basis.

The Government has outsourced support functions like improving citizen interface, managing technology and call centres training to TCS.

The Central Passport Organisation issued over 50 lakh passports last year and the number is likely to double in the next three years.