APPENDIX 4
Letter to Mr Eric Illsley
MP from Mr Peter Bradley MP, 18.12.97
Thank you very much for your letter of 12 December
with news of the Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry into entry
clearance in Islamabad and New Delhi.
I do have a concern about those who are currently
obliged to come down from the Punjab to New Delhi to make their
visa applications. This often involves a very lengthy round trip
and frequently, because they do not have the right information
or documentation, applicants are obliged to repeat the experience.
I had been pressing the Foreign Office to provide
some form of consular service in the Punjab itself. I had in mind
perhaps one day a week on which an official could process applications
in Chandigar or some other local centre.
However, I have been informed by Ministers that,
on the grounds of economy, such a proposal is not likely to be
pursued.
I very much hope that you will be able to take evidence
on this issue. Any steps that can be taken to improve the service
for people in the Punjab would be very widely welcomed both there
and indeed in this country.
| 
