Hundreds stranded in Mumbai as Protector of Emigrants shut office

Mumbai: Over 1,500 airline passengers, scheduled to fly out to various foreign destinations over the weekend, have been stranded in Mumbai after the lone Protector of Emigrants in the city closed his office on Friday without stamping their passports citing work overload.
Protector of Emigrants Pradeep Sureka, who had dashed off a letter to the headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday expressing his inability to deal with the holiday rush of passports, will be back in his office only on Monday. Several passengers Mumbai Mirror spoke to on Saturday said they had to either call off or reschedule their travel plans.
A travel agent, who did not wish to be identified, said it never takes more than a day to get passports stamped at the PoE's office and deliver them back to the passengers. Sureka's decision to just up and leave on Friday obviously took everyone by surprise.
Sureka is currently the only Protector of Emigrants in Mumbai. The PoE office in Mumbai has been clearing a minimum of 1,500 passports a day, way beyond the normal intake of 700 passports per day.
22/10/06 Bapu Deedwania/Mumbai Mirror

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