At present 500 people queue up for five days a week at the visa counters at the back of the highly guarded Indian High Commission here, jostling with each other to slip in their applications. “We want to change all that, at least from our side and want to make it more pleasant and easier for those hundreds of Pakistanis wanting to visit India,” new Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Satyabrata Pal said.
However, at the same time he sounded cautious about the process, noting the current bilateral visa regime was extremely restrictive.
“There is a plan to dispense away with the queue system and follow a token system in which the applicants would be called to submit and collect visas”, Mr Pal said.
“All this would take time but as of now the attempt is to streamline the procedure, make it easier for the overloaded staff but at the same time step up the numbers,”he said
Efforts were on to step up group visas to facilitate tourist flows.
On the steps being taken to streamline the visa issuance procedure, Mr Pal said to begin with the number of visa counters had been increased from five to nine with special counters for women and persons above 65.
— PTI
