The Hon. Ananda Wijepala
Hon. Ananda Wijepala stated that the passport backlog has been reduced since the introduction of a 24-hour service, with 303,483 passports issued out of 349,483 applications received. He said 56,769 of the earlier backlog of about 110,000 applications had been cleared, leaving 43,231 pending, and that urgent applicants can now obtain a passport within a day under the one-day service.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, the passport issue has existed for a long time. To date, total applications received are 349,483, of which 303,483 have been issued. Prior to launching the 24-hour service, a backlog of about 110,000 applications had built up due to last year’s congestion; 56,769 of those have been cleared, leaving 43,231. There is no longer a months-long wait: anyone who needs a passport today can obtain one within the day. As I said, among the earlier 110,000 backlog, 43,231 remain to be completed; however, those with urgent need can obtain a passport within a day under the one-day arrangements.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 20 May 2025 ·No. 1749010823009957 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ananda Wijepala. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 May 2025. No. 1749010823009957. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/25768