The Comptroller an Accountant General ( CAG ) of India has unearthed a huge paasport racket. Seems 500 passport booklets have gone missing from embassies in Jeddah and Kampala while 400 are missing from the consulate inHouston. 2000 visa stickers are missing from the embassy in Moscow. Delhi, Mumbai and Bareilly passport offices issued 12 passports to nationals of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Booklets stolen from Kolkata office were found in possession of two persons with ISI links. The Criminal Bureau of Investigation has detected 275 fake passports between 1998 and 2002 of which 45 were issued from Bhopal. God alone knows how many have not been detected. In another report CAG has pulled up Ministry of External Affairs for delays in issuing passports to genuine applicants. Seems out of 6.272 million applications between 2001 and 2005, 81% were not issued in time. Nagpur and Bareilly are the best with 51% issued in time, Delhi issued only 8%, Pune 1% while Chandigarh did not issue even one in time out of 680 thousand applications. The government charged Rs. 87.2 million from 80,000 applicants for Tatkal ( fast track ) passports but did not deliver. With money to be made from issuing fake passports to potential terrorists why bother with tax paying citizens. The civil servants are not stupid are they? It is a wonder any of us still alive. Ram Bharose again?