By Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Indian Consulate in Jeddah is playing a leading proactive role in delivering the amazing benefits of the latest digital technologies to the members of the Indian and Saudi communities as well as to its Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, according to Consul General Mohammed Shahid Alam.

“We have already held more than 450 virtual appointments with our community members from various corners of the world after introducing the virtual appointment system a couple of months ago. The recently introduced interactive and user-friendly chatbot adds a major fillip to our digital connect to the community,” he said.

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Alam said that the Consulate is keeping abreast of introducing a plethora of enhanced digital services after knowing the real pulse of the Kingdom’s largest expatriate community, mainly through their feedback.

“The community members can have a virtual appointment with the Consulate pertaining to any of their labor, consular, commercial and welfare related issues from anywhere in the world and our staff and digital system will swing into action as if a well-oiled machine to deliver quick foolproof services.

“Any Saudi-based Indian expat can connect with us from any part of the world to address their issues by simply booking an appointment,” he said.

Alam said there has been tremendous response and appreciation from the members of the community for its recently-introduced chatbot, which is available on its mobile app as well as on the official website. This chatbot system is the first of its kind among mobile apps or websites of Indian embassies and consulates across the world, he claimed.

“This is another digital initiative by CGI Jeddah to enhance welfare measures for the Indian community residing in the Kingdom. This initiative, along with an exclusive app and virtual appointment facilities, is benefitting the Indian community to avail services, even during the coronavirus pandemic, and has been widely appreciated by the community,” he said.

The Consulate’s mobile App “India in Jeddah”, supported in both android and IOS, was introduced in May this year to extend its outreach to the one-million strong Indian community in the western region from Najran to Tabuk.

Known as “CGI Jeddah Chatbot”, the interactive service has been equipped on the ‘India in Jeddah’ mobile app and the Consulate’s website that will directly provide the information the users are seeking instead of them having to browse the website/App and search for the needed information.

On clicking the “May I Help You” icon in the home-page of consulate website (cgijeddah.gov.in) or the mobile app, a user-friendly chatbot will welcome the visitor and offer to choose the type of information sought -such as labor, passport, death, visa, commercial and Hajj.

The information will be provided by the auto-response chatbot. In case more information is desired, the chatbot would re-direct to WhatsApp chat with the Consulate officials. This chatbot will provide round-the-clock support and also make communication clear and concise.

Referring to other reforms introduced after assumption of office as Consul General on March 14 this year, Alam said the Consulate’s Pravasi Bharatiya Service Kendra (PBS) center is now manned with officials who can speak major Indian languages, apart from Hindi, English and Arabic.

“We consider all visitors to the Consulate, including Saudis and Indians, as VIPs, and serving them with tea/coffee and water. We also introduced a system to regularly monitor the arrival and departure time of visitors and if we note anybody takes more than the usual time, we will investigate the issue by contacting the visitors concerned.”

The diplomat also spoke about the file follow up system. “If any file is pending for more than two months, internally we send a reminder to the concerned section and externally we will make a call to the concerned person and inform the status of the file,” he said while emphasizing “there will be a follow up from our side on every file after two months.”

Alam congratulated Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman in successfully leading the Kingdom as the most resilient in its fight against coronavirus.

“Saudi Arabia and India made a shared fight against the pandemic with combined and coordinated efforts. India had played a remarkable role in this resounding success in terms of the supply of adequate number of health staff, essential medicine, and the commercial supply of the vaccine AstraZeneca.”

Alam, who served earlier as Hajj consul, said India’s Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Hajj Mission in the Kingdom are in the state of full readiness after putting all things on board for the next Hajj.

“Indian Ambassador Dr. Ausaf Sayeed and I attended recently the annual Hajj review meeting in New Delhi. Though we have not received any official information about the Hajj operations, we remain fully optimistic and there are all positive indications about the resumption of Hajj for foreign pilgrims after a hiatus of two Hajj seasons,” he said.

He noted that official announcement has already been made by India’s Minister of Minority Affairs about receiving applications during the period between Nov. 1 and Jan. 30.

Applications are being received, online for the first time, both on the Indian Hajj Committee’s website and mobile app and we are fully geared and would fully abide by whatever the regulations issued by the Saudi authorities,” he added.