MONTEGO BAY, St James- The High Commission of India, Kingston recently brought its consular camp to the western region, in a move described as “meeting people where they are”.

The camp was held at the Blue Diamond Shopping Mall in Ironshore, St James.

Second secretary at the high commission Prathit Mishra, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer West, explained that the commission started the initiative out of a realisation that individuals are having difficulty visiting its office in Kingston and paying fees to send documents, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The High Commission of India is based out of Kingston and it is very difficult for many persons to come in office because of the pandemic, so we came up with the idea to do consular camps across the country. We also understand that it costs to visit our office or send documents, so we wanted to assist. What we do is go to a specific location in the parish and set up camp for the day,” Mishra explained.

“During these camps, persons can access every consular service they would usually receive in our office. There are no limitations to our services. We offer passport renewals, visa applications, and a lot more,” he added.

This consular camp is the third in the series, as camps were previously held in Ocho Rios and Mandeville, late last year.

The camp’s first visitor, Priyanka Kingrani, recounted her experience with using the service.

“It was much easier and less expensive than having to go all the way to Kingston, to get what I needed. I got my passport renewed in less than 10 minutes and I am really happy with the service provided by the Indian High Commission. I really appreciate them doing this. I think persons across the island should also take advantage of this opportunity and visit the consular camp, whenever it goes to their parish,” she added.

Mishra expressed that the initiative is also a celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Indians’ first visit to Jamaica.

“The first Indian ship docked in Old Harbour 175 years ago and since then, over 40,000 Indians have come to Jamaica. A lot have stayed here and made Jamaica their home, so you’ll find a lot of similarities in our food, dress and lifestyle,” he explained.

“Doing a consular camp in 2020/2021 is another way of reaching out to those people who are old links between our countries. Also, to connect them back to the Indian High Commission and recognising what they have done to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, India and Jamaica.

“We have received a positive response thus far and we are looking forward to visiting the rest of the parishes,” he said further.

He noted that the next camp will be held in Westmoreland.

Individuals interested in finding out more about the camps are being encouraged to visit the High Commission of India, Kingston’s social media pages and website.