Sushma gets Indian missions to work on holiday to issue visa to stranded people

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj got officials of Indian missions in Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur work on holidays to issue travel documents to stranded people, who contacted her through Twitter.

Sushma made the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi open on Friday – a holiday in United Arab Emirates – to issue visa to Kartik Krishnaswamy, a citizen of United Kingdom so that he could attend his mother's funeral in Bengaluru.

Swaraj swung into action after Krishnaswamy's cousin Nikhil Vasuki got in touch with her on Twitter. “@SushmaSwaraj Kartik Krishnaswamy, UK citizen, ph +447789694098, stuck in Abu Dhabi en route to BLR (Bengaluru) mother funeral, pls help with visa urgent,” Vasuki tweeted to External Affairs Minister early on Friday. Later, Swaraj tweeted to Vipul, Consul General of India in Dubai, to help Krishnaswamy.

Indian diplomats in UAE soon got in touch with Krishnaswamy.

“Visa office was opened on holiday to assist Mr Krishnaswamy and another case,” Navdeep Suri, Ambassador of India to UAE, later posted on Twitter. “NRIs can help by getting OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card and avoid such situations,” he added.

The officials at the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur had to work on Saturday after Swaraj received a tweet from Meera Ramesh Patel, who informed her that members of her family had lost passports and consequently got stranded at the airport in the capital of Malaysia.

“Mam...my family is in Malaysia (Malaysia) airport and lost their passports. Due to weekend, Indian Embassy is closed. Please help,” Patel tweeted to External Affairs Minister, who soon tweeted to High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur: “Indian Embassy in Malaysia: This is an emergency case. Pls open the Embassy and help the Indian family.”

An official of the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur soon got in touch with Patel, collected phone numbers of the members of her family, got in touch with them and helped them get emergency travel documents.

“Family members have been contacted, the matter is being resolved,” the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur later posted on Twitter.