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Under this proposal, the offices of Foreigners' Division, Foreigners' Regional Registration Office, Ministry of External Affairs and all its Missions abroad will be interlinked, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday.
"This project is to ensure that (real-time) kind of connectivity takes place so that information is shared instantly on a real-time basis and decisions can therefore be taken on a real-time basis," he said.
Chidambaram said the FRROs, FROs and the foreigners' division are all now on a "stand-alone" basis with no real-time information sharing when a visa is issued.
"As it was issued by Counsel General in Chicago, there was no real-time information. So what we need is real-time sharing of information among all the offices which are dealing with foreigners," he said.
The move comes in the wake of the reports that the Indian Consulate in Chicago had issued visa to Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian, without referring his case to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
However, the consulate had claimed that there was no need to refer cases where an individual was a Pakistani citizen but had become a citizen of another country and surrendered his citizenship of Pakistan.
"It will be the connectivity between all the foreigners immigration offices, the MEA and all the missions abroad so that they will all be on real-time connectivity that is primarily is the whole purpose," Home Secretary G K Pillai said while describing the revamp of foreigners' divisions.
Rana was arrested by the FBI along with David Coleman Headley, a US citizen, for plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark. Indian officials also suspect their involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes.
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For genuine cases, the consulate staff create undue delays in the name of security clearance from delhi. My indian colleague abroad who is married to a pakistani woman for the past 10 years and having 2 children who hold valid indian passports narrated his ordeal at the consulate whenever he tried to get a visa for her to visit his parents in india. It takes a minimum of 2-3 months and numerous visits and requests before a 2 month visa is issued and even then the visa is restricted to a particular town or city and not throughout india. Next, the lady has to report to the local IB office after landing in the city and also before leaving the city. In the present scenario, the role of the consul general should be investigated thoroughly since he has given a multiple entry visa with a longer validity without any security clearance.
Rana and Gilani visas are special cases. Perhaps the External Affairs Ministry and IFS have special category called GOLDEN VISAs. All you need is lots of cash and you can have a golden visa - No other qualifications needed.
Every body remembers that Dawood Ibrahim, lived in Dubai and was holding an Indian passport which was renewed regularly. Our Bollywood stars were constantly seen & photographed with him. Please let us see some action.
Here we go again.. 1.Did the consul general of India,Chicago resigned/recalled/fired/suspended in the light of what is known now.??He must be tried for treason. 2.Mr.Chidambaram and Mr.GK Pillai, now thinking of the future? How long it is going to take? 5 years??Hope not?What we need is to educate the politically appointed consuls.They are send to other countries not based on qualifications.They attend parties,make contacts for favours with local "Indian business" during the time of their stay in the posted country.They are hardly aware of what goes on in the consulates?They give unnecessary hard time for any citizen of Indian birth origin,instead of helping them like getting a visiting visa.Wasting mostly two days of valuable productive time.. 3.Mr.Chidambaram and Mr.GK Pillai are in their right track to get things done right? However,nothing much is done to correct the errors.We need to act now - not tomorrow..
Consulates of India in different countries following different Visa rules is not acceptable. There has to be uniformity in the rules and in procedures for granting Visa to India. Further, non-verification of residential address before granting Visa to India is highly serious matter. Govt must strengthen the system and reduce personal discretion on granting Visa since related to security of the country.
Is he still in Chicago or has he been recalled to India? What happens if he defects to Pakistan? Legitimate questions for Chiddu and SM Krishnan.
Just shows how stupid people become Counsel General's of India and think they are not responsible for their actions. The Counsel General in Chicago should be fired on the spot as he could have been the cause of hundreds of innocent indian lives in India. This person acted irresponsibly and opened the door and spread a red carpet for a terrorist to enter the country legally. Is he worthy of holding this important post? Since he does not have the brains to evaluate a potential terrorist. Will somebody please clarify..