I sent the following email to all the Indian consulates in the US after getting disgusted with the service there. As expected got no response. Indian Govt offices will remain apathetic for generations to come.
"Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing this email with great displeasure to bring to your notice the unprofessional services extended by the consular officers as well as the Indian Consulate itself in Houston.
Let me first start with the Consulate;
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1) It has no physical security whatsoever, for e.g., no qualified person manning the front door. Any person may enter or exit at his will at any time, which poses the question, "Has the Indian Consulate stopped being the highest form of representation of India that it doesn't need any security?".
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2) There are no rules of conduct posted anywhere in the premises of the Consulate. Why or rather, why not? I have seen agents bringing in cheeseburgers and fries and using the space on closed counters # 3 & 4 as their dining tables. How disgusting is it when official business in progress at counter # 2? I have also seen an agent playing loud music on his cell phone sitting in front of the closed counter # 3. Doesn't that amount to disrespect of Republic of India?
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3) Why are agents allowed inside? Agents' services are in general used to prepare correct paperwork for applicants not to deliver them personally.
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4) The consular officer meets one agent for every 5 individuals she/he has seen. Each agent brings in atleast 10 passports/applications which take up a lot of time at the counter? Is it a rule of the Consulate to see one agent after every 5 individual applicants? Why should individuals wait extra time for the sake of the agents?
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Now, let me get to the consular officers;
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1) Why are they so rude and disrespectful to Indian citizens? Are the consular officers not Indians? They are living in the US, so they definitely must be knowing what customer service is all about. One visit to a local bank or a burger joint or a local grocery shop is enough to teach any person customer service. If I, a highly educated person, am being treated in a shoddy manner what about individuals who do not have good education? Are they going to be treated like filth? If they don't like servicing Indians they should not be working at the Indian Consulate in the first place.
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2) Why are the consular officers so friendly with the agents? None of the agents I had seen were Indians. Is that why? In the consulate premises, the agents conduct themselves as if they run the place. All this begs the question, are some under the table dealings going on between the agents and the officers? You might scoff at this question but, if you were one of the applicants waiting and observing the consular officer's behaviour, this question would have definitely crossed your mind.
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3) The consular officer has been given a switch to update the token number which she rarely updated when I was there. Instead, she resorted to the unprofessional manner of saying "next". Are the individuals waiting with token numbers supposed to discuss among themselves who is next in line?
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4) The consular officer switches to Hindi every now and then, never using the word "aap", always using the word "tum". Is she my aunt/sister/mother that she can use the word "tum" while talking to me? First, the use of Hindi itself should be avoided when the applicant is speaking in English and not Hindi. How unprofessional!!
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5) The consular officer hurries people if they are individual applicants, but if they are agents then they have all the time in the world to catch up on all and sundry. Again and again, the same question comes to my mind, why is the consular officer mistreating Indians?
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In my one visit spanning two hours if I can have so many complaints and find so many faults with the Indian Consulate, I can only imagine what regular visitors might be experiencing. I shudder at the thought.
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I am doing my job of bringing the 'wrongs' to your notice. If you read web forums discussing issues related to Indian Consulates in the US, you will find thousands of them abusing all the Indian Consulates. Why are the Indian Consulates run in such an unprofessional manner? I have copied the Consul Generals of other Indian Consulates in the US in this email since some of the above problems might affect their Consulates also.
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Its left to you if you want to do the job of correcting the wrongs. Most of the above can be dealt with simple common sense and some lessons in human resources. The least you can do is raise the status of the Indian Consulates in the eyes of the citizens of India if not of other countries.
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~A concerned Indian"
1 comment:
Being taken for granted is a very common norm in the govt offices of India, treating people as if the officials own their future (in terms of Visa or in terms of granting a license). I don't know how many of such letters we would have to write for that attitude to change. But, at least yours is a start.
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