Passport employees’ tonsured protest against privatisation

CHANDIGARH - Five employees of the passport office here staged a tonsured protest to demand govenment control over software that is being developed to enable the issuing of e-passports, saying this should not be privatised.

“Our chapters throughout the country are demanding control of government employees on the new software that has been developed by TCS (Tata Consultancy Services). We do not want any private player to work on it,” Sunil Dutt, president of the Chandigarh chapter of the All India Passport Employees Association (AIPEA), told IANS Saturday of the protest here the previous day.

“By involving private players, they are putting the security of the country at stake. Besides we also want the officials concerned to streamline the transfer policies. Salary hikes should also be done in the most transparent manner,” he added.

Five members of the AIPEA had themselves tonsured publicly and then sat on a protest in front of Regional Passport Office (RPO) Friday.

“We have approached senior officials of the ministry of external affairs with our demands many times in the past. But apart from lame assurances, we did not get anything. If we do not get any reply this time, we will go on an indefinite hunger strike in the first week of July,” Dutt said.