Sri Lankan missions to stay open on Fridays

Friday, Feb 13, 2009

Gulf News

Dubai: Sri Lankan expatriates who fall in low-income groups will no longer have to sacrifice a working day to get access to consular services. The Sri Lankan embassy and the consulate in the UAE will now remain open on Fridays.

Sri Lankan missions in the UAE have also launched a hotline which enables members of the community to have direct access to their ambassador. Plans to create a database of expatriate Sri Lankans are also being considered.

Wasantha Senanayeke, the consul-general, said only non-Muslim staff would be on duty on Fridays.

"This initiative is being taken by our ambassador in Abu Dhabi after consultations with the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment and our foreign affairs ministry in Colombo.

"The matter was then taken up with the foreign ministry over here," he said.

"The missions used to remain closed on Fridays and Saturdays, but now we [have] made a slight adjustment to the staff working days. For example those working on a Friday will get to take off on Sunday and those who take off on Fridays will resume work on Sundays.

"One of the reasons for us to do this is to extend consular services particularly to those Lankans who come under the low-income bracket.

"There used to be numerous instances reported of domestic helpers or individuals working in sales having to take a day's leave from work to approach the missions to avail consular services. We used to receive any number of letters suggesting that the missions be kept open on Fridays so that people could get their documents in order," said Senanayeke.

Explaining the importance of the database, Hemanth Khawalage, labour attache at the Sri Lankan embassy, said: "The databank will have information about all Lankan expatriates and would help us keep in touch with each community member. We also launched a dedicated embassy website on February 4.

The ambassador is also available at our consulate in Dubai every Monday."

Enquiries with Sri Lankan residents, particularly those in low-income groups, revealed that the new initiative would be extremely helpful in terms of not having to worry about taking a day off from work or losing out on a day's earnings.

R. Nishanti, 32, who has been working as a domestic worker for the last five years in Sharjah, expressed relief at the news.

"Colleagues who, like me are employed as domestic workers, are quite glad that now we don't have to worry about delays in renewing our passports or getting documents attested. I am employed in Sharjah and travelling to the Lankan mission in Satwa, Dubai, means wasting an entire day. But I need not worry now that I can get my documents sorted out from the mission on my day off, which is Friday."

Jaynath Prasannakumara, 23, who works as a delivery boy, said the nature of his work made it near impossible to visit the consulate on a working day.

"But now with the missions open on Fridays, I don't have to worry about that [taking time off work to go to the consulate]," he said.