Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with his Bangladesh counterpart Asaduzzaman Khan opened an Indian Visa Application Centre at Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka by handing over passports with Indian visa to a couple of visa applicants on Saturday (Jul 14). Indian high commissioner in Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Jamuna Group chairman Nurul Islam Babul, among others, were present, local media reports said.
The existing e-token (appointment) system for submission of Indian visa applications has been simultaneously withdrawn. This new IVAC at JFP will replace all the existing IVACs (Motijheel, Uttara, Gulshan and Mirpur Road) in Dhaka in two phases. The new IVAC in JFP will replace the existing IVACs in Motijheel and Uttara from Jul 15. The remaining two IVACs in Dhaka (Gulshan and Mirpur Road) will also be shifted to IVAC, JFP by Aug 31.
There will, thereafter, be only one IVAC at JFP for all categories of visa applications without prior appointment in Dhaka. The new IVAC in JFP is a model visa centre, said the Indian high commission in Dhaka.
The IVAC will have facilities like computer-generated token vending machines (expected waiting time will be indicated), comfortable seating arrangements in an air-conditioned waiting area, coffee and soft drinks vending machines, food kiosks and as many as 48 countresfor submission of applications.
Separate counters will be reserved for senior citizens, women, Freedom Fighters and business applicants. A special help desk and counter for services, including printing, photocopying etc. will be accessible at cost prices.
The location of the new IVAC inside a spacious and secure shopping mall is expected to provide comfortable and seamless visa services to applicants and is expected to reduce waiting time considerably.
The consolidation of visa application services at the JFP and the provision of amenities, reflect the continuing efforts of the High Commission of India, in collaboration with its outsourced partners, the State Bank of India, to further streamline the Indian visa application process and strengthen people-to-people contacts between India and Bangladesh.
