From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Feb 26: Thanks to the special bonding and rapport between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, the Centre is ready to support Karnataka’s demand for opening of the US Consulate Office in Bengaluru.
Speaking at a seminar in Bengaluru on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the Union government will take up the issue of establishing a US Consulate in Bengaluru during bilateral talks with the US in the future.
After Delhi and Mumbai, a large number of visa applications come from Bengaluru. “We will take up the issue of establishing a US Consulate in Bengaluru during bilateral talks,” Muraleedharan said.
Earlier, Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar urged the Centre to consider the State government’s demand to set up a US Consulate in Bengaluru.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs J C Madhuswamy, who attended the seminar on behalf of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, said people of the State go to Chennai virtually begging for visas by standing in a long queue everyday.
The Union Minister said 30 million Indian are living overseas and working in various companies. The country Muraleedharan has appealed to the students studying abroad to voluntarily register on the portal MADAD of the Ministry of External Affairs.
During the crisis times, the government can easily evacuate students if they provide details in the portal. By doing registration in MADAD, students can express their grievance related to consular services offered by Indian Missions abroad. MADAD enables online logging and tracking of grievances and submission of course/contact details of students.
The portal helps the Indian embassies abroad to track students in the case of crisis or even send invitation online for cultural programmes or events, he said.
Vijay Bhaskar also demanded that the Centre should scrap the system of obtaining political clearances for bureaucrats travelling abroad.
He also sought the Centre’s support in holding a diplomats or ambassadors’ meet in Bengaluru on the eve of Global Investors Meet in November 2020.