City police interact with foreign nationals

Mangaluru: In an attempt to address the grievances of foreigners residing in Mangaluru, the city police organised an interaction on Saturday. There are 336 foreigners, including 210 men, from 50 countries, residing in Mangaluru city police limits for education, employment and other purposes. Among them, 82 are from Afghanistan, Bangladesh-11, Ethiopia-25, Malaysia-11, Yemen-20, Iraq-13, Philippines-17, Sri Lanka-20, UK-16 and USA-18. Of them, 218 have obtained student visas, and 40 have OCI cards.
At the meeting held at the School of Social Work Roshni Nilaya, an Iranian raised the issue of foreign nationals not being allowed to register vehicles in their names, to which commissioner of police N Shashi Kumar responded by saying that he would look into the issue. A PhD scholar from Tanzania, studying at Mangalore University, raised concern over a lack of traffic sense, and urged the commissioner to create a forum, to bring together all the foreigners, to share their grievances. He also urged the police to take steps to keep a check on illegal migrants.
Jenieve Monteiro, who is an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), said that there is a need to simplify the verification process pertaining to OCI, and requested for a unit in the city. OCI cardholders have to travel to Bengaluru for any issues or verification of documents, she said.
John Hislob from the UK, who has been residing in the city since 2004, called upon foreigners not to be afraid, but to be honest with the police. Florine J Hislob urged foreigners to keep their documents in order, and not to engage in any illegal activities.
Said Anwar, president, World Youth Organisation and Farkhundu Akbari from Afghanistan, shared their experience. Deputy central intelligence officer (DCIO) Harishchandra spoke about the guidelines to be followed by foreigners.
N Shashi Kumar said that a WhatsApp group of foreigners will be created, and that they can raise queries and clear doubts on it. He called upon foreigners to dial the emergency response support system (ERSS) 112, for any help.
Earlier during the week, home minister Araga Jnanendra directed the Dakshina Kannada district police and the Mangaluru city police to conduct station-level surveys of foreigners who have overstayed their visas, and foreigners who have intruded into the country, and are staying in the district without any valid documents. Shashi Kumar said, “Even as the survey work is in progress, we decided to interact with foreigners with valid documents, to understand their grievances.”