New Delhi: BJP Lok Sabha member Gopal Shetty on Tuesday urged the government to take up the issue of pending visa applications, particularly of students, with embassies of foreign countries.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, Shetty said several students, who had returned to India during the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war, were finding it difficult to get visas to pursue studies abroad.
Several students have paid Rs 10-15 lakh as fees and are finding it difficult to get visas as several embassies are still closed. The problem is particularly acute with Canada where more than one lakh visa applications are pending, Shetty said.
He said cultural troupes from Gujarat were finding it difficult to get visas for performances in the US.
Shetty, a member from Mumbai North, urged the government to take up the issue with respective countries and also issue a clarification to the effect as the problem was with the embassies and not with the External Affairs Ministry.
BSP member Shyam Singh Yadav demanded re-instatement of the Old Pension Scheme, contending that several pensioners were finding it difficult to make ends meet with the meagre payouts under the new pension scheme.
DMK leader T R Baalu raised the issue of recruitment by Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) based on Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) scores.
Baalu claimed that NLC was in violation of the social justice and reservation policies making recruitments using GATE scores.
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is only to select graduates for post-graduate courses in Engineering and Technology streams, he said.
Baalu said that NLC has already selected 299 people as Graduate Executive Trainees and contended that the recruitment was in violation of the reservation policies of the Centre as well as the state government.
BJP member from Hoshangabad Uday Pratap Singh sought appointment of administrative officers as Director and President of AIIMS, contending that hospital administration was a specialised subject.
He said there were irregularities in administration of blood banks at AIIMS, Bhopal where patients were given blood of the wrong blood group.
Singh claimed that there was also an instance at AIIMS-Bhopal where a patient was given HIV infected blood, which had led to his death.
Congress member S Thirunavukkarasar wanted the government to establish the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in his Tiruchirappalli constituency in Tamil Nadu.
BJP member Tapir Gao from Arunachal East wanted the Centre to approve schemes for restoration of roads and bridges that get washed away due to heavy rains in the northeastern states.
—PTI