The government is building the capacity of the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) so that it will be able to deliver all passport and immigration-related services. “Every responsibility of passport and immigration will gradually be handed over to the department and the ministry is moving forward keeping this fact in mind,” the minister said. Director General of DIP Major General Masud Rezwan, president of the program, said the department has issued some two crore (1 crore 96 lakh) MRPs and 6 lakh MRVs to foreigners. The department has also collected revenues of Tk11,000 crore, although the budget for the project was a mere Tk710 crore. When asked after the program, Home Minister corroborated that physical police verification would be unnecessary once the smart card project is completed.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 03, 2018 21:00 UTC