Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, on Sunday, instructed the officers of the Department of Immigration & Passports (DIP) to ensure efficient services for applicants at the Passport office.
The Home Minister came up with the comments while addressing the inauguration ceremony of Regional Passport Office Dhaka East (Aftabnagar) and Dhaka West (Mohammadpur) and Passport Office (Call Center) at the passport office in Aftabnagar in the capital on Sunday.
Addressing the officials of the newly inaugurated passport office, the Home Minister said that people will get benefits from the two new offices. People will get good service, he added.
He asked the officers of the new offices to serve the people.
He said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced in 2008 that Bangladesh will be developed as a digital country.
"Since this announcement, we have taken initiative of providing MRP passport. We faced many hurdles in issuing MRP. After overcoming all the hurdles, MRP was introduced. Then we took step into the world of e-passport. The quality of our passports is also slowly improving. As earlier our passport quality was on the downward side, now it is slowly improving and going upwards. Our passport is already recognized as a world class," the home minister said.
"We have now started our journey towards Smart Bangladesh from Digital Bangladesh. E-Passport and e-Gate of Immigration are bearing a hint of Smart Bangladesh. Besides, e-Visa is also going to be launched very soon. We are also going to launch Passenger Advance Information service. Civil Aviation will launch the Passenger Advance Information service. When it is launched, if a passenger buys a ticket, we will know who is coming to Bangladesh or who is going abroad from Bangladesh," the home minister added.
Chair by Director General of Immigration and Passport Department Major General Md Nurul Anwar, the programme was addressed among others by President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Ministry Benazir Ahmed, Member of Parliament of Dhaka-13 Parliamentary Constituency Sadek Khan and the Secretary of Security Services Division of the Home Ministry Md Abdullah Al Masood Chowdhury.