In order to facilitate the Kiwi-Indian community living in Auckland, a Consular Camp was organised by the High Commission of India, Wellington, on Monday (February 27, 2023).
The High Commission@YourDoorStep event took place at Hotel Cordis in the Auckland CBD.
In the morning, the camp provided consular services, including acceptance of passport applications, police clearance certificates, attestation and OCI cards from the Indians living in Auckland. Around 50 applications were received during the Consular Camp. The duly filled forms were collected by the Consular staff and will be processed after return back to Wellington. Consular queries were also attended to during the day by Consular staff.
This initiative of the High Commission of India, Wellington, was very well appreciated and acknowledged by the Indian diaspora living in Auckland.
This was the first time a consular camp was organised by the High Commission of India, Wellington, in Auckland under the leadership of the High Commissioner of India to New Zealand, H.E Neeta Bhushan.
In the evening, an open house gave people an exclusive opportunity to meet the High Commissioner.
Talking exclusively to Indian Weekender, Bhushan, who was dressed in a brown-hued sari, said, "My main plan as the High Commissioner of India to New Zealand is to be more accessible to the community members here and give them a chance to talk to me and share their feedback/suggestion/grievances with me, and that is why we have commenced this initiative to enhance our outreach to the Indian diaspora.”
She added, "We will regularly have open houses across different cities in NZ to help our Indian community in whichever way we can. I want people to come to these open houses and talk to me freely about issues that we can help with. We are here to help our community. I am just five months old in the country, and therefore I need the support of the Indian diaspora to know how we can help them and improve our services.”
When a member at the open house discussed the lengthy process and time frame for getting Indian Police Clearance Certificate from India, Bhushan addressed the issue and said, "We need to find a solution to make things easier and processes better as I acknowledge that timeliness are very crucial for a document like PCC. I would try to take up this issue with our Ministry and see if this can be made faster.
A common complaint that people usually have with the High Commission of India, Wellington, is that they are unresponsive to phone calls and emails. When we brought this up with the High Commissioner, she said, "We are doing our best to improve our communication with the community. I would request our community members to communicate via email as we do not have enough staff to take calls continuously. We strive to reply to all emails within 2-3 working days. We are ensuring that all our services, whether OCI, Passport or PCC, are completed within the timeframe. Currently, we endeavour to complete passport applications in 30 days and OCI in 4-5 weeks."
Before travelling to Auckland, High Commissioner Bhushan presented her Credentials to Hon Dalton Tagelagi, the Premier of Niue, at a ceremony held in Wellington on Monday morning.