Well the Government of Pakistan led by PPP found another way to increase more revenues, this time government put further axe on the masses by increasing cost of living for them. The government of Pakistan announced to double the passport fees in Pakistan as well as People of Pakistan living abroad. May be some people (Upper Class) will not concerned about the increase in fee but  i am mainly concerned about the students as well as the poor people who were not able to pay the new fees.

Here I want to mention that the students who want to appear in aptitude tests conducted by international authorities are primarily required to bring passport for the exams. These International authorities don’t accept even National Identity Cards in majority of the cases. Moreover, the majority of poor people of society who go abroad to earn bread and butter for their home will also face the same problem as the opportunity cost for moving out has further increased.

According to Dawn:

PESHAWAR: A decision to increase the passport fees by a 100 per cent has been announced on Monday. The new fees will be implemented on July 1, 2010, after the new federal budget has been announced.

A order by the Interior Ministry has stated that the normal passport fees is Rs.2,100 will be increased to Rs.4,100 whereas the fees for the urgent passport will be increased to Rs.8,000 from Rs.4,000. Included in the passport fees, the bank fees will be raised to Rs.100 from an existing Rs.25. The 100 per cent increase in fees may also apply for Pakistanis residing abroad. The preparations for the fees hike have been completed.

I wonder if the government will ever share the reason for such extra ordinary increase in the Passport fees? At the same time, the services provided by the passport office are negligible. If you have to visit the passport office, i am sure one full is surely wasted in the process. There are long ques and the people on the other side of the desk are least concerned about the scorching heat and the far away places from which the applicants come. The do their work at the usual slow pace of Pakistani government offices.