Highly-placed sources at the DPI said from April it was required for applicants to be present themselves when submitting forms and collecting passports. The rule was brought into strict operation after DPI officials encountered certain embarrassing situations.

Officials said a many passports went missing from their Khulna office. It was reported that Indian citizens managed to obtain Bangladeshi passports.

"We had even heard of some Indian nationals using our passports as worked for Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka," an official said.

The Detective Branch (DB) last year retrieved 51 forged Bangladeshi passports with visas, block seals and immigration seals in Old Dhaka. It also seized some dollar endorsement seals, 30 block seals of various persons and organisations, embossed seals of Bangladesh government and home ministry.

Organised gangs assisted by DPI staff renew at least a 1,000 passports daily. The department issues around eight lakh passports a year but only 75,000 passports are deposited for renewal. A large number of these passports are issued without proper verification seals or signature.

Passport-holders or applicants do not go the department directly but pay the required fee along with some extra money to the brokers (dalals) to avoid standing in long queues at the Agargaon office.

"People should understand that a passport is a very personal document. If they are caught with a forged passport in a foreign land they might end up in prison," the official said.

He said there is a very little chance of issuing passports to the wrong person if the applicant is present, and the issuing officer can verify any information if the necessary arises.

"There would be lesser chances of individuals being deceived by middlemen and people could avoid paying extra," he added

The new measures seem to be working well.

Anwar Hossain, a private company employee, said his travel agent was reluctant to renew his passport, which they generally did. So Hossain had to go to the DPI himself to complete the formalities.

The middlemen said the rule had affected their business, though not entirely.

"Akash (not his real name) a broker said: "We now concentrate on everything else except delivery. The client just has to come to receive a passport or renew it.

"The client has to collect it and he or she doesn't need to stand in the queue as we do everything like filling up forms to submitting fees to the bank," he added.

The DPI has sent a proposal to the government to repeal the renewal procedure and issue permanent passports to citizens instead.