The High Commission of India in Sri Lanka on Thursday dismissed as “unwarranted” the local media reports and social media posts that blamed an “Indian company” for bungling the visa issuance at the Bandaranaike International Airport here. The statement by the Indian High Commission came after Sri Lankan authorities claimed that they have taken back the running of the ‘Visa on Arrival‘ counters at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) from the Indian firm after the alleged incident on Wednesday.
“We have seen reports and comments including in social media regarding Indian companies taking over visa issuance at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Colombo,” the High Commission of India said in a statement.
“The companies referred to in these reports are not India-based or Indian and are headquartered elsewhere. Any reference to India in this context is unwarranted,” the statement said in response to media queries.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lankan immigration authorities claimed they had taken back control of the ‘Visa on Arrival’ counters at the Colombo International Airport.
“We took over the operation after the Indian company left. They were unable to carry out smooth operations which drew the ire of the passengers on arrival,” Jayasinghe Bandara, a senior immigration department official, told PTI here.
The government of Sri Lanka had contracted the Indian company to run the ‘Visa on Arrival’ counters at the airport. The Indian firm officials were unable to carry out a smooth operation as they had not done a trial run of the busy operation, he said.
A video of the incident that went viral showed a Sri Lankan man shouting at the company officials for allegedly refusing the entry visa for his wife, a foreign national. The unidentified man claimed that an Indian national had no power to deny his right as a Sri Lankan national.
Bandara said the state immigration officials have returned to carry out the functions and “would not charge the extra fee charged by the Indian company.”
The firm had charged all arriving tourists USD 25 additional for their services as against the rules.
Bandara said Sri Lankan authorities would charge only USD 25 per person for a traveller from a SAARC nation and USD 60 for a non-SAARC national’s arrival.
However, the Indian firm had charged fees from even ‘Visa fee’ countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, he claimed.
Sri Lanka had announced free visas for travellers from those countries to promote tourism.
The immigration official did not reveal the name of the “Indian company”.
The small airport near a wildlife sanctuary on the southern coast opened in 2013 but was immediately plagued by problems, and has been a running sore on state coffers since. Government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana told reporters that cabinet had awarded a 30-year lease to a joint venture between India’s Shaurya Aeronautics and Russia’s Airports of Regions Management Company.
