Paying extra bucks for Indian visas

Virtually all applicants for Indian visas are complaining that the present system of visa issuance has led to racketeering benefiting a section of employees of the consulate and their agents. The system involves putting information including passports, previous travel details etc. in a reasonably designed form online. Unfortunately, this form is useless, unless it is accepted and a date is fixed for interview or submission.
The existing system does not permit the latter part except it is at the fag-end. Only some employees of the Consulate and their friends can know it. So, even after hundreds of tries, the system refuses to grant a date to the frustration of the applicant. Informal inquiries at the embassy and travel agencies reveal the big truth. When the scheduling system will become operative is a privileged piece of information, for which payment is required. The rates vary depending on the agents. It can run as high as Tk 3,000 per applicant and as low as Tk 1,500. Even the son of our former law minister had to pay Tk 1,500. Nobody minds when a legal fee is charged, however high it is. But giving in to corrupt officers of the High Commission of our friendly "neighbourhood nation" may seem unpalatable to many. All officers of the mission are aware of this. But it seems they have resolved to do nothing about it.  

Bazlur Rahman
bzlrrhmn@gmail.com