Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles claims that long queues were reported for passports in the past few days due to the actions of certain individuals interfering with the system.
Addressing the media, Minister Alles clarified that long queues were reported recently not due to a shortage of passports, but due to certain individuals taking over the token system.
He revealed that the ministry initially introduced an online appointment system with registrations opening at midnight, but all appointments were booked within the first 15 to 20 minutes.
Minister Alles said it was later found that a group of individuals with over 100 SIM cards were booking the appointments and later selling the slots to the public for Rs. 45,000.
Stating that as a result this online system was suspended, he said then the ministry introduced a token system, which was also taken over by this group, with the tokens being sold to the public for Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 20,000.
Minister Tiran Alles said that measures were then taken to brief the Police on the token system and hand over the process to the Police for implementation, resulting in queues for passports ending by 10.30 am.
The minister made these remarks in response to recent allegations raised by National People’s Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath, who blamed the government for the persisting long queues to obtain passports. (Newswire)