Ten times the amount for a passport!
One of our respondents from Hyderabad gave us this dismal piece of news that he had to shell out a pricey sum of Rs 10,000 to procure a passport through an agent. The irony of the situation comes out when you realise that the fee charged for a passport by the Regional Transport Office anywhere in India works out to only Rs 1,000. Though this Hyderabadi took recourse to the Tatkal facility (which costs Rs 2,500), he was forced to opt for the scheme since he lost time running between States to obtain his passport for studies abroad (http://ipaidabribe.com/bribe-central/passport-saga-blood-sweat-and-tears)
Sample another passport-related grievance from Hyderabad, wherein our respondent was asked to pay Rs 12,000 to renew his passport. The reason given by a passport official was that the old passport had turned yellow! However, this bribe-fighter has taken a stand he would not pay and has decided against applying for the renewal.
These are not isolated cases. Amounts ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 10,000 are charged by passport officials or agents to process one’s application. The Hyderabad RTO comes across as a corruption hub for based on the inputs we received, outclassing Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Students applying for studies abroad appear like sitting ducks to those out to make money in the passport business. Two reasons make the vulnerable: the desperation on the part of students to get a degree abroad and the general assumption that one who can afford to study abroad must be very well off financially!
Many of our respondents had to bribe officials twice for obtaining passport. The first point of bribery is the local police station where the verification process takes place. The power wielded by the local cop can be summed up in this one-liner he spelt out when a person from Koramangala (in Bangalore) was willing to pay only Rs 150 as bribe instead of the Rs 500 demanded: "Let me see how you get your passport."