By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: In response to a survey by The Peninsula, the Nepalese and Pakistani embassies have admitted that they are facing problems in serving large number of their citizens in Qatar.
However, the Indian and Sri Lankan missions said they provide good services to their citizens and no complaint has been made to them.
Responding to the survey published on May 24, many expats from South Asian countries said they were not satisfied with their embassies. Most were critical of consular services and said their missions would not come to their rescue during crises.
Expats from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal also criticised their embassies.
The Peninsula contacted embassies for reactions to complaints, and the Bangladeshi embassy did not respond.
The Indian embassy, in its reply sent with 10 points, said, “… it would be far more useful for anyone interviewed in your ‘random survey’ to contact the embassy directly, with specific details for any positive or negative feedback.
“The embassy would also find such feedback far more useful than the article in The Peninsula.”
It said the well-being and welfare of the large, diverse, accomplished and highly regarded Indian community (the largest expat community in Qatar), especially workers and other compatriots in low-income categories, are the top priority of the embassy.
The mission claimed that it “swiftly responds to any emergent case of any Indian national on a 24x7 basis”.
Most Indians who responded to the survey said they were dissatisfied with the services of their embassy because of several reasons, mainly lack of facilities despite an unprecedented growth in the size of the community.
The mission, however, claimed that it welcomes any feedback on its services from the Indian community. “We receive positive feedback and appreciation from a large number of Indian nationals on a daily basis, and receive occasional complaints, each of which is looked into swiftly and action taken as required.”
The embassy said it is considering increasing volume of work in consular and other services and looking at the possibility of moving to a larger premises and increasing staff.
The Sri Lankan embassy said none of the allegations published in the article had been raised by its nationals or others with the mission.
Sri Lankan respondents in the survey said they were not satisfied with the services of their embassy. The majority of them also claimed that staff were cordial but inefficient.
Some alleged that staff treat visitors based on their appearance, and do not provide correct information.
But the embassy claimed that “anyone can speak to its staff on any official matters and all Sri Lankans visiting the mission are treated equally and courteously”.
Referring to Sri Lankans’ complaints about high consular fees, the mission said fees are determined by authorities in Colombo, not by the embassy.
The Pakistani embassy praised the survey and said the mission is ready to welcome any suggestion to improve services.
The mission said it has limited space and faces shortage of staff to manage daily consular affairs.
“We are working to improve our system to make our services easier.”
Some Pakistanis said they were unhappy with the time the embassy takes to address their problems. They also complained that they have to wait for hours at the mission to get their work done.
The embassy said it has introduced an appointment system for machine readable passports and national identity cards for Pakistanis abroad to reduce delay in consular services.
It said an online service will be introduced soon while an information counter has been opened to provide information on telephone or personally to Pakistanis here.
The Nepalese embassy also admitted that it faces difficulties in serving its people.
Many Nepalese said the embassy was understaffed, which causes delays.
‘’We agree there is rush at the embassy; people come for various reasons like consular work and labour problems. Even our foreign minister visited the embassy this week and reviewed the situation.
“We hope that our embassy gets a bigger place and more staff,’’ said Harihar Kant Poudel, Second Secretary. “We do everything possible to help our people when they have problems, like labour issues or when they meet with any accidents,’’ he added.
The Peninsula
