Indian community urged to use new mobile app to reach out to embassy

Indian ambassador Dr Deepak Mittal has urged the community members to make use of the recently launched mobile application ‘India in Qatar’ as well as the Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK) helpline to keep in touch with the embassy at any time.“Your embassy is your home, away from your home. We are there round-the-clock to support you. Our effort remains that the embassy will connect with every Indian, all the 750,000 plus community members who have made Qatar their second home. We will strive hard to ensure your welfare and wellbeing and work shoulder to shoulder to address all your needs,” the envoy told the gathering at yesterday's flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 75 anniversary of Indian independence.“I appeal you to make use of the two facilities that have been set up by the embassy. One is ‘India in Qatar’, a mobile application. I urge each one of you to download the application and register. You can get in touch with the embassy at any point of time through your phone. Our effort would be to come back to you within 24 hours to discuss and help you with any issues that you have,” the envoy explained. “The second initiative is the call centre, PBSK. We are going to come out with a unique toll free number soon for this call centre. You can call in and raise any queries in multiple Indian languages. Community members can ask for assistance on any subject and if the call centre is not able to answer the queries instantly, we will come back with the assistance within 24 hours,” continued, Dr Mittal. As for the bilateral relations between Qatar and India, the ambassador said that India’s 75 year journey also comprises of 50 years of India-Qatar relations. He highlighted strong bilateral trade and energy ties, interdependence of both the countries with respect to energy and food security, defence and security co-operation, education and cultural co-operation. He also pointed out that India is among the top countries in trade volume with Qatar.Dr Mittal praised the work and activities of all four apex bodies working under the aegis of the embassy and encouraged them to do more. He also highlighted the growing presence of Indian schools in Qatar almost 20 of them in total catering to more than 50,000 Indian students as well as one Indian university.