MHA struggles to deliver on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of E-visa to China

NEW DELHI: Nearly a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Electronic Tourist Visa (ETV) facility for Chinese nationals during his trip to the neighbouring country, the home ministry is grappling with the enormity of preparations required to operationalise this overture to the world’s most populous nation.
India is yet to notify the addition of China to the list of 74 countries that have been extended ETV facility. This reinforces claims by some that the government machinery was taken by surprise by the PM’s announcement in China despite an adverse recommendation from intelligence agencies.
Officials said the home ministry had made no advance preparations to immediately implement the PM’s promise. Foreign secretary S Jaishankar, in fact, had flatly denied any such decision just a few hours before the PM’s announcement.
The home ministry is now planning to operationalise ETV for China only when it is ready, officials said. This could happen later this month, they said, along with addition of six airports to the list of nine Indian airports currently eligible to accept ETV passengers from 74 countries. Immigration infrastructure is also being upgraded at the nine existing ETV-enabled airports.
A team comprising officials of the home ministry and National Informatics Centre is set to leave for China to train Indian consulate staff posted there for handling the online ETV applications and an existing blacklist with respect to Chinese nationals is being “updated” before extending the facility, a senior home ministry official told ET.
“With China, certain sensitivities are involved,” the official said, indicating that China might be subject to greater scrutiny under ETV on the lines of Sri Lanka.
Sheer numbers is the main challenge. “China is not any other small country. We expect a flood of tourists from China under ETV facility and our airports have to be prepared for the inflow. We cannot afford long queues at the special biometric counters at the nine airports that receive ETV passengers as it will be very embarrassing. So the plan is to add counters at the nine airports and make six more airports ETV-enabled to share the load,” the official said.
Read this in Hindi: चीनियों से ई-वीजा के मोदी के वादे पर सरकार की मुश्किल!