Man’s passport declared invalid as his house stands on ‘encroached forest land’

Shridhar Lakhe 31 from Pimpri Pada Malad East is facing a major livelihood crisis as his passport reissued in February was declared invalid due to a negative police verification report According to information received Lakhe has been employed with a shipping company and worked on cruises across various countries including the US France Italy the UK and South Africa over the past seven yearsAfter returning to India in November 2024 he applied for the reissue of his passport as his existing one was set to expire in eight months His new passport was issued in February and Lakhe booked an April 11 flight ticket to return to work in London However to his shock his passport was rendered invalid following a negative police verification reportFor the past several months Lakhe has been making rounds of the police station and the passport office in an attempt to resolve the issue but to no avail According to Lakhe the Kurar police reported that the house where he resides is located on forest land and is considered encroached propertySpeaking with midday he said ldquoWe have been living in this house for the past 30 years My siblings and I studied in schools and colleges while residing here Itrsquos not just us hundreds of families like ours live in this area We have ration cards gas connection bank passbooks driving licences and voter ID cards all registered at this address I even got my passport issued from this same address in 2015rdquoAccording to Lakhe he submitted the same documents in 2015 but this time the police sent a negative report citing that his house was located on encroached forest land ldquoDue to this my police verification report is still pending and without this clearance my passport is invalid making it impossible for me to travel abroad for work I request the authorities to help me as my family is solely dependent on my earningsrdquo he addedSocial activist Ram Bhoite the president of NGO Shivsangram Sanstha said ldquoAll the people living in this area are Indian citizens and have been residing here for years They may not possess house ownership documents but they have other important governmentissued documents like Aadhaar cards PAN cards ration cards driving licences and voter ID cardsmdashthe very documents through which they exercise their right to vote and help form the government So do these documents hold no importanceI know dozens of people living in this area who already have passports I also know many individuals who are working abroad and supporting their families here through their earnings What will happen to them when itrsquos time to reissue their passports Today it is being said that people are living here by encroaching on forest land and that their police verification is being rejected because they do not have ownership documents or electricity bills In that case I would like to ask the government How are passports and other official documents being issued to people living on encroached lands belonging to the collector BMC and other departments Were those not encroachments too Government agencies must look into this matter seriously and ensure a fair and consistent approach for allrdquoA source working in the Passport Verification Department at Kurar police station explained that according to a 2022 notification the documents required as proof of residence for passport issuance include any one of the following MTNL phone bill electricity bill Mahanagar Gas bill water tax bill property tax bill maintenance receipt or a registered sale deed of the houseIf the person resides in an allotted or rented house any one of the following documents is required MTNL bill electricity bill Mahanagar Gas bill water tax bill property tax bill maintenance receipt registered rent agreement rent slip or a quarter allotment letterldquoIn the present case while the individual does possess ID proofs there is no certified document related to the house ownership or tenancy which is a mandatory requirement We have reported this to the Regional Passport Office accordingly Our responsibility is to check the applicantrsquos criminal background verify the prescribed documents mandated by the government for passport verification and forward the report based on that In this case we have followed the same procedurerdquo said Senior Police Inspector Janardhan Parabkar Kurar police stationatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params