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Better services for Indian expats

When the consulate was built in the early 1990s, the infrastructure was geared towards catering to only 300,000 Indian expatriates in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. In 2003, the estimated Indian population has crossed the million mark, necessitating a corresponding increase in the infrastructural facilities and staff strength at the consulate.

Agreeing that the current facilities and staff strength were woefully inadequate for the volume of consular services that were being offered by the consulate, Mr Sinha said that plans were under way to build a public hall for attestations within the consulate and evolve a rationalisation of the queue system. This, he said, would help reduce the serpentine queues that have now become a regular feature at the Indian consulate, particularly during peak hours on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

"My priority is to provide efficient and expeditious services and rationalise the queue system and ensure optimum use of space within the existing constraints, even while we wait for approval from New Delhi to expand the existing infrastructure and staff strength," Mr Sinha added while explaining that online application forms for various passport services devised by the consulate earlier could result in the reduction of lead time for processing the papers.

Online services

He urged the community to make greater use of the online consular services that have been made available. Here the processing of papers starts immediately after a person fills up the form, therefore, reducing time on the part of the applicant. "But currently the number of users of online services are far less than what we expect," Mr Sinha said, hoping that the numbers would soon pick up. Currently the consulate offers consular services to an average of 2,500 people every day.

The diplomat lauded the role of various Indian associations, particularly in the far-flung areas who have been authorised to accept applications for various passport services. He feels that such an arrangement helps people in these areas to receive consular services without making several trips to the consulate. Also every weekend, a team of consular officers fan out to different emirates to offer consular services, so that people residing in these areas do not suffer while at the same reducing over-crowding at the consulate.

The plight of blue-collar workers in Dubai and the Northern Emirates has also moved the consul-general to spearhead a campaign meant to popularise various schemes of the Indian government. He said that a new bill for overseas workers had already been tabled in the Lok Sabha and is likely to be passed by the end of the winter session of the parliament. This will include compensation for death and disability and benefits for family members as well as insurance.

Workers' record

Mr Sinha also talked about a national registry of overseas workers that is going to be compiled by the Ministry of Labour to help reduce the number of Indians who are conned by middlemen with lucrative job offers in the UAE, who realise that they have been duped after they arrive here. "When we receive such complaints from Indian expatriates we forward them to the Indian Ministry of Labour to take necessary action against the conmen," he said.

Indians who are in distress in the UAE, are also a priority, with the Indian consulate joining hands with the Indian Community Welfare Committee for quick repatriation of ailing or distressed expatriates. Consular officials make regular rounds of prisons in different emirates and make arrangements for repatriating inmates who have already served their terms but do not have enough resources to go back home. Legal advice for expatriates who are involved in a legal wrangle in the UAE is also available at the Indian consulate every Thursday, Mr Sinha added.

Ties with UAE

Another thrust area for the consul-general will be to increase the level of bilateral trade and economic interaction between India and the UAE. India's exports to the UAE was to the tune of $3 billion in 2002-2003 whereas India's non-oil imports from the UAE were to the tune of $860 million while the total bilateral trade between the two countries totalled $4 billion. "My aim is to increase the volume of trade between the two countries to $5 billion by the end of the next financial year," Mr Sinha said.

With Dubai emerging as a major re-export hub, an increasing number of Indian companies are setting up offices utilising the free zone and warehousing facilities being offered by the UAE government. The reconstruction of Iraq, is going to give Indian companies with a base in Dubai the necessary fillip, Mr Sinha said.

The first UAE trade exhibition is being organised in Dubai between October 21 and 24 and is being sponsored by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dubai Ports Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Dubai Tourism Commerce and Marketing in active collaboration with the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indian business and Professional Council.

"This exhibition will serve as a showcase for UAE products in India and help the flow of investment from UAE into India, " Mr Sinha added. India, which has registered a consistent 6 per cent growth in its GDP since the last 10 years, offers excellent potential for foreign investors from the UAE.

The growing trend of investor confidence in the UAE is becoming evident and I am hopeful that UAE businessmen will find the Indian market lucrative. The recent joint venture between Dubai Ports Authority and an Indian stevedoring company J.M. Baxi for the Vishakha container on the Eastern coast of India is a move in the right direction, he said.

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