I was travelling out of the country on 3rd May and was not allowed to exit by the immigration authorities as they claimed that my passport was damaged. The plastic lamination on the behind page had come out because of poor quality of lamination used. Hence for no fault of mine and for the inferior quality of passport issued I could not travel and this amounted to not only great loss of business for me but also valuable foreign exchange for the country. To my surprise I have found that many passports issued around the year 2001 - 2002 are having the same problem, whereas my earlier passport issued in 1990 is still good. I think an investigation into the contractors awarded the contract for lamination alongwith the specifications of the same would unearth some unscrupulous practices that may have taken place.
Also the immigration officer at Mumbai airport has impounded my passport with a remark "damaged passport". My question is does the immigration rules permit the impounding of a passport just because it is damaged, or is this action of the immigration officer just out of high handedness with some ulterior motive.
Savio Alves
[email protected]
9821874966
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