Emergency visas are granted immediately now: India's Consul General in Toronto

How has the journey been so far from the time you took the office in the March 9, 2016?  Within these 11 months, have you come across anything which can be used as a myth buster about Canada?

In a few days, I would be completing one year in Toronto, Canada. Toronto has been very welcoming and in one year I have seen all the four seasons of the country. The Canadians as well as Indians in Canada keep me very busy and this is not a complaint but a compliment. They are very warm and consider me as a part of their families. Indian ethnic media  have been very encouraging to me in all the initiatives that I have taken so far.

It is good to know that as a diplomat you have been applauded by media. We also want to know what is happening in consular services.

I have taken several new initiatives since my arrival in Canada. Concerning the Visas, Passports, OCI and other services, the front end of these are outsourced to a private company BLS. At present, we have two offices of BLS in GTA; one in Brampton and the other one at Victoria Park and Lawrence in Toronto. They collect all our forms and send us for doing the backend processing of these services. We are trying to reduce the time taken for each service. For visas and passports, of course, there is certain sequence of process that has to be completed for every service and we cannot reduce our time period below that. For example, when anyone applies for an Indian passport it takes about 2 to 3 weeks. The applicant fills the form and information is sent to Delhi where these are printed and then we get them back. Then we process and stamp these and send to BLS. The number of days cannot be reduced to less than 2 weeks although we are trying to bring the time to bare minimum.

Similarly with Visas, when you submit these to BLS today, we receive these the next day. It takes 24-48 hours for processing and then we send them back. Total of minimum 5 days are required for these but we are trying to reduce even this time down to bare minimum.

Another great service which I would like to mention is the Emergency services (tatkal services), which cater to emergencies like issuing of visas and passports, attestation services, etc. These services are charged. Our website www.cgitoronto.ca is the best source if you have any queries or concerns. After working-hours, emergency services are also provided, information about which is also given on our website.

For after hours emergencies, primarily in cases of death, emergency numbers are provided on the website. These emergency numbers are switched on every evening and switched off every morning. This is a unique service provided by our Consulate. Any such services are not provided anywhere in the world.

In 2014, my (the interviewer) father had passed away and I had great difficulty in getting the visa for India. My father had passed away on a Friday and after repeated telephones and inquiries I was granted visa only on Monday. It was a very sad situation. What has been done on this?

After taking the responsibility of the Consulate, I have tried to improve a lot of services and now the emergency visas are granted immediately. I got a call for emergency visa last night due to death of a person in the family and I asked the person to call the emergency phone number, which they did and the visa was issued to the person immediately.

There is yet another service which I would like to bring to your notice and that is of the Open House Service. This open house is held every Friday between 10 am to 12 noon and any person with any concern is welcome to meet me in my office without any prior appointment or any mediator. You have to queue up and receive services on first come first serve basis. There are usually lot of complaints about accessing government officials but my office is open for two hours every Friday when I listen to the concerns of at least 20-30 visitors.

There were complaints that all the emails and phone calls are not responded properly. What do you have to say about this?

We are trying to update our phone system and have been training all the personnel. All our old email addresses have been replaced by new email addresses, which can be found on our website  www.cgitoronto.ca. We encourage everyone to study our website for any concern. We also encourage every one to send us emails instead of phone calls.  All emails are responded to within 24 hours.

It has been brought to our attention that  there are issues of partiality in the BLS. What is being done on your part to resolve these?

We do agree that there are some complaints about BLS and it is not the perfect service. Outsourcing company has their own teams and we are trying to improve their services. We are trying to train the staff and there have been improvements but there is still scope for further improvement. In future any person with a complaint can approach the manager or bring these to our notice. But the number of complaints have reduced. Another factor is that the confusion arises due to non-clarity of the information and once again our website offers the best guide. The documents required for the various services are listed there. It is my endeavour that all  cases with problem should be reduced to bare minimum.

Please throw some light on the business partnership between India and Canada.

There are two aspects of business. First one is trade, which is increasing at a normal pace. In 2015-16 Indo Canada bilateral trade touched over US dollar 6 billion which is more than Canadian dollar 8 billion. Other aspect of the business is increase in investment that enhances economical linkages between the two countries. Financial institutions, be it banks, pension board, other financial institutions in Canada are keen to invest in India.  I have personally met most of the top financial institutions and encouraged them to take proper initiatives. Last year in Sep-Oct, the Commerce & Industry Minister and Finance Minister of India visited Toronto and encouraged all the financial institutions to invest in India for business growth. According to figures, Indians have invested more in Canada than Canada has done in India. We have created more jobs in Canada than Canada has done in India. Our foreign investment regime in India is highly liberalised. We also give long term visas for business purposes.

Another major highlight is the improvement of the flight connectivity between the two countries. At present we have 15-20 airlines having direct flights to India. Yet another milestone of which we are proud is our efforts to develop other linkages. A delegation of India Post visited Canada two weeks back and met Canada Post not only to discuss postal, couriers and packages but also to develop e-commerce.

What is your observation regarding the Canadian interest in heavy industry in India?

I do not want to speculate on the names of the negotiating industries as these are pieces of sensitive information. I can for sure say that development in this area is taking place.

Being a diplomat what made you select Foreign Services over other services?

In India, I qualified in the Civil Services Examination in 1991 and then joined Civil services in 1992. I had the option of choosing any other services but my reason for selecting foreign services was that in it I could visualize greater career opportunities and no other services of India could have given better exposure to me in my last 25 years.

What are your goals for the next five years?

We have only three-year term in one place and I can only think of two more years in Toronto as my first year is almost over. In our three-year term, we try do our best and then leave the platform for our successors to further improve upon it.

If you had the power to change anything, and I mean anything in any corner of the world, what would that be?

Many years back, I was Deputy Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs where I learnt that I should not answer any hypothetical questions.

What do you do in your spare time?

After office, all my time is devoted to the family.

What comes first, family or job?

Both family and the job complement each other and my family appreciates that.

(Interview by Suman Das, Asha Bajaj and Sudipto Maity)