I needed a passport for my elderly mother, who was planning to perform Umrah. After waiting almost three hours, her application was rejected because she could not provide a Commissioner/Chairman certificate, leaving her extremely distressed. Later, a broker approached us and offered to process the passport for Tk 2,500, claiming he had connections with passport office officials and that only her NID would be required. The very next day, her application was successfully processed with just her NID. If the certificate was mandatory, how was the passport processed without it? And if it was not mandatory, why was my elderly mother subjected to such unnecessary hardship?