Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun yesterday said the formalities for introduction of Machine Readable Passport (MRP) and Machine Readable Visa (MRV) will begin in the scheduled time.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the MRP project on March 31, she added.
She said this at a meeting at the home ministry with its Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder in the Chair.
The home ministry yesterday decided to distribute application forms for MRP from 10 regional passport offices of the country.
The receiving of application forms for traditional passports would be suspended from March 20 and distribution of MRP forms will begin on April 1 from 10 passport offices, the meeting sources said.
These offices are regional passport offices in Dhaka, Jessore, Chittagong, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Comilla, Barisal, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Gopalganj.
The forms for MRP will be available in all other passport offices phase by phase, the meeting sources added.
The meeting also decided to provide short-term (one-year) passports for those who need it urgently, especially for treatment or other emergency purposes. It also requested people to apply in traditional forms for getting emergency passports before March 20.
The International Civil Aviation Organization has given a deadline for its member countries for introduction of MRP from April 1. The government has taken up a project at a cost of over Tk 283 crore in this regard.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Director General of Passport and Immigration Directorate M A Mabud, Director Administration of the directorate Parveen Bhanu and Project Director of the MRP Brigadier General Md Refayet Ullah.