Help centre under Indian Consulate in Dubai reaches out to 33,000 expats

NAT CGI PICTURE-1636174706649 — Consul General of India in Dubai Dr Aman Puri and others at the cake cutting ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK) Dubai, a help centre under the Indian Consulate, served more than 33,000 Indian community members in 365 days of its operation out of the consulate, the mission has said.

“Congratulations to @pbskdubai for completion of one year of services from @cgidubai today. We are #HappyToHelp more than 33k Indian community members in the UAE during the first year of establishment of @pbskdubai at the Consulate,” the consulate said on the occasion of the PBSK's anniversary, which was marked by a cake cutting ceremony.

Consul General of India in Dubai Dr Aman Puri praised the efforts of PBSK staff and counsellors for the welfare of the Indian diaspora in the UAE, PBSK said in another tweet.

Tadu Mamu, consul for Press, Information, Culture and Labour at the Indian Consulate told Gulf News that most of the cases handled by PBSK since its relocation to the mission on November 1, 2020 were related to workers’ grievances, marital disputes and enquiries related to COVID-19 travel regulations.

Forging tourist visas

Anish Chaudhury, supervisor of PBSK Dubai, said a number of grievances pertained to workers getting duped with tourist visas forged as employment visas by illegal recruitment agencies back home.

“Some workers were apprehended for using such visas, while many others lost huge amounts of money they paid to the agents,” he explained.

Regarding marital and family disputes, he said PBSK provides free counselling services.

“We also provide free legal counselling on a daily basis through the panel of lawyers volunteering to offer their service with us,” said Chaudhury.

A large number of calls to PBSK’s 24x7 toll free helpline 800-INDIA) 800- 46342) were related to COVID-19 travel regulations between India and the UAE.

“We also received a lot more enquiries to our WhatsApp number 0543090571 than earlier.”

Through its mobile app PBSK Dubai, the help centre has been receiving around seven to eight enquiries to verify job offers every day, said Chaudhury.

The Consul General has been visiting big companies in different emirates to spend a Friday morning with Indian workers by having breakfast with them and listening to their grievances and demands.

PBSK has incorporated its awareness sessions on healthy lifestyle, financial literacy and fraud alerts to the “Breakfast with the CG” initiative, said Chaudhury.

“Ever since we started operating out of the consulate’s premises, we have been able to answer various queries and address many concerns of the expats faster than earlier, thanks to the immediate responses that we can access from the officers concerned,” he added.