The Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai has warned its community members against unscrupulous agents to get the passports and identity cards done.
"Keep away from the agents roaming around the consulate offering their services to help the people get the passports and National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistani (NICOP)," said Dr Zafar Iqbal, Press Counsellor. "They have nothing to do with the consulate." The Consulate is taking strict measures against the touts after it received complaints from applicants.
Some agents especially from typing centres try to trap people, particularly the blue-collar and the less literate workers, offering their services for typing application forms and helping them get the job done without any hassle.
Check on activities
"We have rounded up a few agents and handed them over to police and regularly monitor the premises to put a check on such activities," Iqbal said.
The consulate offers paperless services. "Applicants don't need to fill any forms to get their passports renewed or to get NICOP. Everything is computerised. The data is entered on the spot and even photographs are taken with digital cameras at the counters inside the consulate, as per the new system. No one even jumps the queue as it is maintained by issuing computerised tokens," he said.
Agents charge Dh20 per application as typing charges despite the fact that there is no need to type forms. "We urge people to come to our information counter for all services, including attestations of educational certificates, affidavits and outpasses (temporary travel document)," he said.
The people should report such incidents to the consulate staff to help them apprehend agents, said Dr Iqbal, adding that the agents could start their business because of a lack of communication. "We have taken drastic steps to make consular services 'user friendly' for all visitors."
Around 30 information boards with instructions and rate lists for services are being installed at the consulate to guide visitors. An information counter has also been opened at the reception and at least two employees are available at the consular hall to guide the people.
