Khangura Slams NRI Cell’s Problem Solving via Video-Conferencing as a Joke - 08/09/2011

Qila Raipur MLA, Jassi Khangura, today slammed the Punjab Police’s NRI cell for their tokenistic approach to genuinely addressing the issues faced by NRIs. He said “throwing a high tech approach at NRIs problems won’t solve them unless the foundations are there too, and the intent to correctly pursue each case to closure.”

Citing the 1 hour per week window of opportunity for problem redressal, Khangura said “the Punjab Government is living in a dream world. Do the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister really think that 1 hour a week can be sufficient when there are thousands of complaints out there? This is tokenism. A complete joke. I feel sorry for the Police team tasked with actioning this.”

Khangura also said that bearing in mind the 4pm-5pm timing on one day a week this service would be of very limited use to NRIs almost anywhere apart from the UK as they would be asleep due to their time zones. He said “any scheme will only work if it’s accessible and useable otherwise it’s eyewash. Sadly this is the latter. It could only work through an effective appointment system where the NRI knows in advance the time of the call and to whom he or she will be speaking.”

Questioning how to actually utilise this service, Khangura asked “how does an NRI actually use it? For all the media coverage of this announcement, it’s almost impossible to find out just how one is to actually use the facility.” He added that he had visited the site and see what was being offered and commended the simplicity of the idea, which turned out to be an email based live chat rather than video conferencing, whilst questioning the chance of it being a success.

Khangura said that reportedly 715 complaints has been received by the NRI cell during its lifetime, and that “most” are re land grabs and marital disputes. He therefore raised the question “according to given figures 379 of 715 cases fall into these two categories... what are the other issues and how many of these cases have been successfully resolved to date?” He continued “any system is only as good as it’s follow up. Adding more complaints to the list, without properly investigating and bringing them to closure is futile and will not assist NRIs in any way. I would hope for much more from the Punjab Government in this arena, but know better than to expect it.”