While trying to rehash and serve the arguments of the Indian consulates, Neera Bahl (News India Times, Jan. 28), fails miserably in understanding the sources of the community’s anger. Let me just take a few arguments to tear them apart.
If the consulates are receiving thousands of applications, by corollary, they are getting that much more visa fees, too. Visa fee is charged to cover processing costs and is not supposed to be pocketed. Why did these bureaucrats not spend those dollars in recruiting manpower to do it efficiently as soon as they saw a rise in applications? And if they are outsourcing, why does the community have to pay another charge to the processors? If the consulates outsource the work, let them pay for it.
Security concerns? What security? Did the Pakistanis who terrorized Bombay for three days, or those who tried to attack parliament a few years ago, enter India with passports? Why did the intelligence department fail to notice David Headley’s several visits with no business connections? Now they are punishing the entire NRI community for their failure in intelligence gathering.
And invalid decades-old passports? What is the purpose of asking for these passports, which  cannot be used for travel, and harassing community members to pay a fine or produce more documents? It’s their own mistake in not collecting the passports when a person of Indian origin applied for a tourist visa the first time.
Chandrakant Pancholi
New York, NY