Letters: April 20, 2011

Professional approach and excellent service
We visited the BLS office for the renewal of our passports and we were quite satisfied with their service (“Problems at outsourced Indian passport, visa centres”, Gulf News, April 15). The staff was very cooperative and helpful. It was their first day and the staff did mention the difficulties of the system and that they were doing it manually to save their customers’ time. They did inform us that all the applications would be loaded into the system once it came back to normal later that day. However, they were trying to cope with the rush, which they had not anticipated. We could clearly see that they were attending to each and every client’s request in a professional way, guiding them towards the requirements of each and every applicant. We were happy with their service and professional approach.
From Ms Divya Tekchandani
UAE

So far so good
The service provided by Empost was excellent, but their website was not and initially they faced similar problems. BLS’ website is excellent with all the necessary details and forms. And I hope the service will be excellent within a few days.
From Mr Shabeer
Dubai
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Learning from the past
While I understand there will be teething troubles, the new team should have observed how the previous contractor was doing things. They could have learnt from those observations. I went there last week and it took us over two hours to submit two passports, even though there were only about 10 people ahead of us. Why blame them when our own Indian Consulate couldn’t care less?
From Mr Akbar S.
Dubai
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No complaints
BLS is not bad at all. Maybe it’s the Indian Consulate’s fault, as I have heard and come to understand that there are certain software integration issues in consulates. The reduction in cost is good. My experience at the BLS Dubai centre was not bad at all. In fact, I felt it was much better dealing with BLS than the consulate.
From Mr Mohammad Othman Khan
Dubai
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Give them time
They just took over the responsibility. Kindly allow them a month or more to learn and perfect their responsibilities. I can’t remember any new system or company doing it right from the word go. Technical problems at this stage can be associated more with the Indian embassy. However, poor customer service skills by BLS staff cannot be ignored right from day one.
From Mr Latif
Dubai
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Act now
This is a serious issue that at least 300,000 people are going to suffer from in a year. So, the authorities must take immediate action. The service provided by Empost was excellent and they deserve to continue on as carrier.
From Mr Mohammad Rashid
Dubai
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Going home to apply
Will our Indian Government ever understand our problems? They want our hard-earned money, but will never do anything for us. I have to apply for my passport renewal and I now have no confidence whatsoever to apply here in the UAE. I will go back to India and apply.
From Mr Alphonse
Abu Dhabi
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Stronger ties on the horizon
The revival of cricket ties between the two neighbouring sides will surely bring a message of peace and stability (“India, Pakistan to resume cricket ties: reports”, Gulf News, April 14). We, the younger generation, would like to see friendly ties between the two countries in all aspects of life. Hats off to both the governments of India and Pakistan for resuming cricket ties and moving one step closer to building healthy and long-term relations. I wish them good luck and more prosperity in the coming years.
From Mr Kamran
Sharjah
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