Staff Correspondent, Narayanganj

After a long wait of ten months, the Narayanganj Regional Passport Office is finally set to resume full operations. Starting Sunday (May 4), passport services will once again be available at the old address in Signboard. The online application process had already resumed at 12:01 AM on Wednesday night. Deputy Director of the Narayanganj Regional Passport Office, Jamal Hossain, confirmed the news to the media. He said passport applicants in Narayanganj can now submit their applications directly at the office and complete the photo and biometric enrollment process. It is known that on the night of July 18 last year, a tragic incident occurred when miscreants set fire to the Narayanganj Regional Passport Office during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. In that devastating fire, nearly 8,000 passports awaiting distribution were reduced to ashes. The entire office building was destroyed, and the fire continued to burn for nearly a full day. The then Deputy Director Mahmudul Hasan had also stated that the office was looted before being set ablaze. The fire incinerated everything from the ground floor to the fourth floor, including critical bio-enrollment equipment, administrative departments, office supplies, important documents, and record rooms.As a result, residents of Narayanganj’s seven upazilas (Siddhirganj, Rupganj, Araihazar, Bandar, Sonargaon, Fatullah, and Sadar) faced immense hardship and had to travel to nearby districts like Munshiganj and Narsingdi for passport-related services.Finally, six months after the incident, the Department of Public Works began the renovation work. With the office now reopened, the local population breathes a sigh of relief as they can once again access passport services within their own district.