Passport, post offices in disarray as bomb-hoax season grows longer

Kolkata: Even before the panic triggered by a series of bomb threats to courts across Bengal could subside, central govt offices came under threat on Thursday, after a hoax e-mail warned of explosives planted at the Kolkata Regional Passport Office (RPO), Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) and Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) across the state.The threat mail, which claimed bombs were placed inside passport offices, led to immediate evacuations at the RPO on Brabourne Road and the PSK in Anandapur. Staff members, passport applicants and police clearance seekers were rushed out as cops and bomb detection and disposal squads began search operations with sniffer dogs.
A senior RPO official said, "There was panic among employees. Kolkata Police was informed and the regional passport officers asked the staff to evacuate the office. But before that, all applicants were asked to evacuate the office. We waited on the street till the bomb squad searched. We heaved a sigh of relief after it turned out to be a hoax." Bengal has the largest network of POPSKs in the country, making the disruption particularly widespread, as Passport Seva services operate at the grassroots level through post offices. Similar threat emails were reported from PSK Behrampore, while the Howrah Maidan Post Office — which houses a POPSK — received a bomb threat shortly after work began for the day. The premises were promptly evacuated and security teams conducted checks. Threat emails were also received at Asansol Head Post Office and POPSK, and Basirhat POPSK. In East Burdwan, panic gripped the Head Post Office, which also functions as a POPSK. Police, bomb squads and sniffer dogs were deployed as the campus was cordoned off and operations temporarily suspended. The Passport Office in Asansol also received a similar threat. Authorities issued an advisory directing all post offices housing POPSKs to shut operations between 12.30 pm and 2 pm and evacuate staff and visitors. At IIT Kharagpur campus post office PSK, staff and customers were evacuated after authorities informed police. Services remained suspended for nearly 90 minutes. Evacuations were also carried out at the Ghatal sub-divisional POPSK, while bomb squads conducted searches at the Jhargram PO. Further alerts were reported from Balurghat in S Dinajpur and Makdumpur post offices in Malda, both of which house passport centres. Police teams and bomb squads rushed to the sites and evacuated the offices. Officials in Malda confirmed that all passport centres in the state received similar threat messages and were shut as a precaution. . No suspicious objects were recovered at any of the passport offices or post office centres till late evening. (Inputs from Howrah, Murshidabad, Malda, E Burdwan & W Midnapore)