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Pune RPO officials hint at involvement of pvt agents behind deluge of fake tweets
The officials hinted that private agents may have been involved in this ‘motivated’ campaign to dissuade citizens from directly approaching the RPO
Officials at the Pune Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Mundhwa said that the office was targeted by a fake Twitter campaign on Sunday afternoon wherein hundreds of tweets were sent out from fake accounts blaming the RPO for having “no seating arrangements for senior citizens”. The officials hinted that private agents may have been involved in this ‘motivated’ campaign to dissuade citizens from directly approaching the RPO.
According to the information shared by the Pune RPO, at about 1.50 pm on Sunday, the RPO Twitter handle received an influx of similar tweets from a series of accounts which appeared to be spam. The tweets were on similar lines and largely read: ‘‘Extremely disappointed at the mismanagement at @rpopune. Senior citizens are made to wait for hours, circling from one desk to another. Why does @rpopune take days to process work that requires only a few hours?” Upon scrutiny, the accounts from which the tweets were received showed a consistent pattern; the usernames had the same numbers or were derived from celebrity names (Sree_nikhil9999, amkranthi99, Suryasingham123, Salman_fangirll, Demi_GodPrabhas etc.). By 2.24 pm however, the campaign slackened and the RPO promptly informed Twitter about it.
Arjun Deore, regional passport officer, said, “This clearly seems like a motivated attack on us. Our only goal is to issue passports to as many citizens as possible.”
However, an RPO official requesting anonymity said that the Twitter campaign had possibly been coordinated by third-party agents, who almost always mislead passport applicants into opting for tatkaal services only to extract more money from them apart from misusing their documents.
“Tatkaal is a priority and not a premium service. Possibly due to the fear of making mistakes themselves or because there is a narrative propagated by such agents that the passport process is tedious, people tend to shirk the RPO office. However, it involves very few steps and we charge a government-approved fee. We sincerely request people to fill the form instead of third-party agents doing it. They often charge high commissions and promise that their appointments will be faster,” Deore said.
Under the normal passport category, adults are charged ₹1,500 and minors and senior citizens ₹1,000. But tatkaal appointments are ₹3,000- ₹4,000. However, third party agents change ₹600-2,080 for normal passports and ₹1,000- ₹5,000 for tatkaal.
As regards the tweets accusing the RPO of inadequate seating arrangements for vulnerable groups, the Hindustan Times visited the RPO office and found most citizens reporting the contrary. Shama Khan, who was visiting the RPO said, “For entrances 1 and 2, there are general seating arrangements for men and women. However, I do not think there should be an issue for senior citizens and pregnant women as there is a token system in place to prioritise them.”
Similarly, other women said that the Mundhwa office was spacious and that there were empty seats available at all times.
Kirti Auti, who was visiting the RPO with her child said, “Even without segregated spacing, the place is big. There is a lot of space for pregnant women, disabled, and senior citizens to sit.” Senior citizens too did not complain but lauded the RPO for its timely procedures. Jayant Sardar, 79, said, “There are no separate arrangements but the process took 15 minutes. It is hassle-free.”
Whereas Deore said, “We have a token system wherein the specially-abled, pregnant women, senior citizens and parents coming with children under four years, get priority. This makes their application move faster compared to those in the ‘general category’ and they spend less time completing the passport process. We do not need a separate seating arrangement for them because the token gives such groups first priority.”
