For Pakistani family in Mumbai, railways did what hotels couldn't

Mumbai - Dejected Pak visitors cut short Mumbai stay, leave for Rajasthan.

A Pakistani family on a visit to Mumbai was refused rooms by several lodges and small hotels, apparently because they were not geared to handle the paperwork relating to registration of foreigners.
The Karachi-based family of six, who had visas to visit India, travelled to Jodhpur and spent some time with family friends before coming to Mumbai on Wednesday.
The visitors, who included three women and a child, went to the famous Haji Ali dargah to pray for an ailing member.
But their ordeal began soon thereafter, as many small hotels and lodges in central Mumbai refused to give them rooms.
Taking pity on them, officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Bombay Central station then gave them some shelter and a room to sit and get refreshed. They also provided them some food.
While an RPF spokesperson refused to comment on the incident, sources in the force said that a sub-inspector and other junior officials took pity on the family members who were sitting on the pavement outside the main railway terminal.
They checked their documents and then took them to a small room where they were given food. The Pakistani family left for Jodhpur on Thursday, cutting short their visit to Mumbai by a few days.
According to sources, there are scores of non-star hotels and lodges in central Mumbai, but most of them are not geared to deal with foreigners. When a hotel provides room for a foreigner, it has to make a separate entry in its register and also inform the foreigner's registration office of the local police by means of a form 'C,' within 24 hours of the foreigner checking in. Last year, the union ministry of home affairs introduced an online registration system for foreigners, but many of the smaller hotels, including in smaller cities, have not implemented the system.
They are supposed to manually enter the details in the C form and send it to the foreigner's registration office. Smaller hotels do not have these registers or forms, nor do they have personnel familiar with the rules, so they avoid giving rooms to foreigners, whether Pakistanis or other nationalities. Many also do not want to deal with the foreigner's registration office.
The police have also cracked down on hotels for not informing the FRO about foreigners checking in. Consequently, the smaller properties are reluctant to give rooms to foreigners as it involves a lot of paper work or installation of special software.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com 

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