Long queues were observed today outside the Immigration office in Battaramulla, after the government claimed they have now imported passports to meet the demand.
Officials said people started arriving around 2.00 am. to join the queue by 9.00 am. more than 2,000 people had queued up.
However, by noon only 1,200 tokens had been issued.
The official said that they would not be able to issue tokens to all of them,
However, those who queued up said the process of checking documents was very slow and they needed to increase the staff to check the documents.
They said a police officer was also deployed to check documents, instead of Immigration officials.
‘We hope the government introduces an online system so that only those with a reserved number can turn up to collect the passports,’ a person from Anuradhapura said.
He said that they had arrived after Minister Vijitha Herath had said that measures have now been taken to end the passport queues.
He said the people need to be told the truth so that they can act accordingly.
A Sri Lankan man was apprehended at Suvarnabhumi airport for attempting to smuggle wildlife out of the country after three ball pythons were found hidden in his underwear, the Bangkok post reported.
The UK government has unveiled a package of reforms to simplify imports from developing countries which allows for more garments manufactured in Sri Lanka to enter the UK tariff-free.
Read these and more on tomorrow’s edition of the Sunday Times
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