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Uttar Pradesh govt to set up NRI courts, police stations

New Delhi - The state government decided that no FIR would be filed against an NRI at a police station, unless it has been approved by an inspector-general-level officer.

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to launch a slew of initiatives including setting up NRI courts and special NRI police stations, besides establishing migrant resource centres to help workers venturing abroad to the Gulf.
Madhukar Jetley, advisor to the UP government's NRI and externally-aided projects department (who holds a minister of state rank), told Khaleej Times here that NRI courts would result in fast-tracking of cases involving overseas Indians.
"These courts would ensure that cases are taken up and resolved quickly and NRIs will not have to come to India repeatedly as the matter drags on for years," he said. "Most of the cases relate to property disputes, land grabbing cases and even some matrimonial matters."
Similarly, the government plans to set up NRI police stations to handle cases relating to overseas Indians. The state government has also decided that no FIR would be filed against an NRI at a police station, unless it has been approved by an inspector-general-level officer. "Nobody can just walk into a police station and file an FIR against an NRI," he said.
The move has been initiated to ensure that frivolous cases are not brought up against overseas Indians. Senior officers will study the FIR before approving it.
India's largest state also accounts for the largest number of overseas Indians, pointed out Jetley. "Every year, nearly a quarter million residents of UP migrate abroad, according to Indian government figures," he said. "And a significant number of them go to the Gulf."
But many of the migrants face harassment at the hands of petty officials, agents and other intermediaries. The government has now set up a UP NRI Corporation, which has a dozen offices across the state from Gorakhpur in the east to Noida in the west.
The corporation will tackle problems relating to documentation and also take up issues such as corruption, harassment of migrants by agents and employers.
Similarly, the government plans to set up half a dozen migrant resource centres, which will offer skills development programmes for potential migrants. "We will identify the skills that are in short supply in different parts of the world, especially in the Gulf, and train the youth," said Jetley. "These would include programmes that would certify them as electricians, welders, carpenters and tailors."
Armed with the certificates from the centres, the potential migrants would hopefully not be exploited and underpaid when they land up overseas jobs, pointed out the UP government's NRI advisor.
According to Jetley, the UP government has also appealed to the governments of Gulf nations to start visa facilitation centres in Lucknow and other cities of the state. These centres will only collect documents and send them to their respective embassies in Delhi for final visa approval. In the absence of such centres, potential migrants have to travel all the way to the national capital, and also face exploitation by agents.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com