Indian missions in UAE announce monthly open day for community

Abu Dhabi: Indian expatriates in the UAE will have a regular venue to voice their grievances with the Indian diplomatic missions in the country.

Starting from next month, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General of India in Dubai will conduct ‘open day’ for the Indian community every month.

The open day will be held on the first Sunday of each month, from 3pm to 4pm at the embassy and 10am to 11am at the consulate, starting from July 1. It is an attempt to address grievances of the local Indian community regarding consular, community and other matters on a regular basis, according to a press release issued by the embassy.

At the open day, the community members can directly take up their grievances with the ambassador at the embassy and consul general at the consulate, M.K. Lokesh, Indian Ambassador, told Gulf News yesterday. In their absence, the next top official will be present to address the grievances of the community members at the open day, he said.

He said the community members can always approach the embassy and the consulate on regular working days with their grievances but the advantage of the open day is they can meet the senior officials without an appointment.

Community members had a mixed response about the new initiative. It is good that community members can directly meet the ambassador and senior officials but they have to publicise this initiative to the maximum extent, said Ashraf Pattambi, a social activist who is also the welfare secretary of Malayalee Samajam, a community organisation. 

“At the same time the embassy staff have to improve their performance and behaviour with the common people who visit them on regular working days to take up various issues,” Pattambi said.

The embassy and the consulate conducted an open day on June 3 after a long interval. Only three people came up with complaints at the open day at the embassy, among them only one was a serious complaint which was submitted with the embassy in August last year.

A worker alleged that his Indian employer filed a false absconding complaint against him with local authorities when he resigned from the company. The complainant told Gulf News yesterday that his problem was not yet sorted out.

The ambassador said the issue was a little bit complicated because of the counter-allegations raised by the employer against the worker but the officials were trying to sort out the issue amicably.