Omar seeks opening of visa processing facility at Srinagar

Jammu Feb 19: With Srinagar airport becoming operational on the map of international airports, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has urged the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to make arrangements in Srinagar to process the visa applications for the people.
In a communication to UAE's Ambassador Mohammad Sultan al-Owais, the chief minister has referred to the inconvenience faced by the passengers travelling from Srinagar to Dubai as they have to get their visa clearance done from the embassy of UAE in New Delhi and then come back to Srinagar for boarding their flights for Dubai.
He asked the ambassador to put in place arrangements in Srinagar city itself to process the visa applications of the intending passengers from J&K to Dubai.
"It would be appreciated if arrangements are made in Srinagar city to process the visa applications for the people of J&K state who intend to fly to Dubai from the state", Abdullah wrote to Al-owais that this would be a big relief to the people of the state.
He said that he would be looking forward for immediate positive response from the UAE embassy. Meanwhile, in another communication to Union Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, the chief minister sought his personal intervention to convert the temporary structure at the Srinagar airport, which had been raised to facilitate incoming and outgoing passengers during the construction of the new airport terminal building, into a separate Hajj terminal.
This, he said, would help in providing great relief to the Hajj pilgrims for boarding their flights from Srinagar at the time of leaving for their pilgrimage.
Abdullah described the inauguration of the international airport at Srinagar as a great step in the aviation history of the state, saying it would go a long way to boost trade and tourism by way of providing direct aerial connectivity to Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the world.