NEW YORK: Five local employees of the Indian consulate here were fired and a warning given to two diplomats after an audit found gross ‘inefficiency’ in the passport and visa section.
Those fired were Santosh Kachroo, Devika Bhardwaj, David Mathias, B. Zakaria and Romi Mitra.
The two officers warned are K. Mitra (father of Romi who has been fired) and Shambu Singh. Consulate sources said that the dismissed employees were scape goats for someone else’s crimes.
Sikhs in the Tristate area have been long claiming that the consulate would only give them their passports after large sums of money exchanged hands.
Sikhs have been singled out for such discrimination by the government of India since 1984 and local employees used the opportunity to make a fast back.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 24, 1989
