8,000 philately passports sold in a matter of few hours across Karnataka

Representational image | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto A few hours after the Karnataka Postal Circle launched a new set of Philately Passports for sale on October 10 and 11, all the 8,000 passports in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Belagavi were sold out fast. While Bengaluru sold 3,000 passports, 1,500 each were sold in three districts in two days.According to the Karnataka Postal Circle officials, travel enthusiasts, philatelists and others lined up in queues of several hundred metres long as early as 2 a.m. on Sunday (October 11, 2026). Police personnel installed barricades around the General Post Office (GPO) in Bengaluru and guarded the place to prevent any untoward incident. People also brought speakers, played music and danced to vile away their time while waiting in the queue.Recently, the Karnataka Postal Circle officials had announced the sale of 8,000 passports including 3,500 in Bengaluru and 1,500 each in three districts. In July, when the philately passports were up for sale in Bengaluru, all the 1,000 passports and 500 each were sold in three districts in a day.A senior official from Bengaluru GPO, said, “We issued tokens starting from 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Within 3 to 4 hours, all the passports were sold on Saturday (October 10, 2026) as well as Sunday (October 11, 2026). Some people who couldn’t get the passport were disappointed. However, we had already posted on social media pages requesting people not to start from their home to GPO as the passports were sold out.”These passports were sold on first-come-first-serve basis and only one passport was sold to one person. Each passport has hundred unique pictorial cancellations and the cost is ₹600.The official said that the fanbase for philately passport in Mysuru, Mangaluru and Belagavi is as big as in Bengaluru. Even people from surrounding districts queued up at these districts and bought the passports, braving large crowds. “All 4,500 passports were sold in these three districts in two days,” the official informed.Yash, a travel enthusiast, said, “I waited for six hours in the queue to get this passport. Now, I have got another reason to travel across the State and explore places.” Pavan K, another traveller, said, “I slept on the footpath on Sunday (October 11, 2026) night and waited for eight hours in queue to get the passport. My next task is to explore Karnataka.” Published - October 11, 2026 02:12 pm IST