Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

PICKED UP FROM telegraph.co.uk - TRAVEL SECTION - I HAVE MADE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTING MYSELF

"Hitch over a double holiday in India

I recently acquired a multiple-entry tourist visa for India, which has a lifespan of six months. I am travelling to Delhi and Nepal on a two-week holiday on November 6, and returning to India on January 6 for a holiday in Goa that a friend has booked and paid for.

When I picked up my Indian visa from the processing agent, VFS Global, I was told that I could not re-enter India on a tourist visa within two months of my November trip without getting special permission from the Indian High Commission. How do I go about doing this?
Judy Naylor, London

Gill Charlton replies:
This rule was introduced a year ago to thwart foreigners working illegally in India on tourist visas.

You must apply in person for re-entry permission at the High Commission in London or a regional consulate. See www.hcilondon.in for the relevant addresses.

The re-entry limit dispensation is supposed to be for emergencies, but you may get approval if there has been a genuine mistake. The tourist re-entry request application form can be downloaded from VFS Global's website. The link is http://tinyurl.com/32s9eq7.

You need to fill this in, supply supporting documentation and a photograph, and bring £7 for the fee.

In London go to the visitors entrance of the High Commission in Aldwych between 10am and 12.30pm. Tell the doorman you have come for re-entry permission and he will allow you into the building.

I am including all this detail because obtaining the correct information has been like uncovering an Indian state secret."

NOTHING NEW THERE, BUT WHEN WILL INDIA WAKE UP TO THE FACT THAT NOT ALL VISITORS TO THEIR COUNTRY WANT TO TAKE UP ILLEGAL EMPLOYMENT - RATHER THE OPPOSITE I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT.

STILL, IT'S THEIR LOSS WHEN THE REVENUE FROM TOURISM STARTS DECREASING YEAR-ON-YEAR, AND OTHER COUNTRIES REAP THE BENEFIT.

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Received following via GOANET-NEWS, under this heading

[Goanet-News] NEWS: The "national" media "rediscovers" Goa... Comment in India Today‏


http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/118233/Editor

From the editor-in-chief
Aroon Purie October 29, 2010

I first went to Goa 39 years ago on my honeymoon. Yes, it makes me
feel ancient but I saw a pristine Goa in all its natural beauty
without the hordes and the back-to-back hotels and restaurants which
today crowd the beach front. We stayed in a beach shack-type hotel on
Calangute beach called Souza Lobo which had no running water. The room
rent, believe it or not, was Rs 7 per night. Today Goa is the most
sought after three-letter word in global tourism. The state is now
packed with a wide variety of hotels, including famous international
chains and the beaches are littered with restaurant shacks. Popular
tourist areas are so crowded that they have turned into urban slums
even as land values have skyrocketed. Goa receives 27 lakh domestic
tourists and nearly four lakh foreigners every year, many of whom just
stay on.

Goa is no longer just about fun in the sun. It has now, unfortunately,
become the crime capital of India, where a confluence of sex, drugs
and mafia has made an underworld industry that is growing faster than
tourism. This darker Goa that lies beyond the picture postcard
beachfronts is the focus of our cover story. We sent three of our best
investigative reporters - Senior Editor Sandeep Unnithan, Associate
Editor Bhavna Vij-Aurora and Principal Correspondent Mihir Srivastava
- to Goa for an exhaustive expose of its underworld where, as one
Israeli tourist says, "Sin is our way to salvation."

Our cover story brings out the many variations of that multimillion
"sin" industry in all its frightening details. It is an industry built
on drug money, for Goa has become, as an official in the Narcotics
Control Bureau tells our team, the new consumption as well as the
transhipment point for drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan. With some
800 chartered flights from abroad landing in Goa every year, tourists
are suspected to be the new drug mules. Fifty-eight foreigners and 69
Indians were arrested for drug peddling between 2008 and 2010. Last
year, the state's anti-narcotics cell seized drugs worth Rs 1.17
crore. This year, the haul was worth Rs 76 lakh. The official figures
are a joke; they hide the truth rather than tell it. The truth is
another dimension. According to the UN, drugs worth $5 billion make
their way into India from the Afghanistan-Pakistan route. Goa is where
most of the cocaine makes the landfall because the shoreline around
Mumbai is better protected, particularly after the terrorist attack in
2008.

Goa is the favourite second address to have, and not only for those
who want to take a respite from the metropolitan whirl. It has
apparently become the favourite of the Russian mafia as well. Another
growing industry is the prostitution racket, mostly run by foreigners.
It is an intricate, deadly web of drug trafficking, the flesh trade
and real estate. Goa's descent into crime and sleaze is partly made
possible by political and official patronage. Tainted cops and
politicians make the story familiar: In India no crime syndicate can
work without political protection. As long as politicians and
officials remain partners in crime, Goa's original glory as the
leisure capital of India cannot be restored. A safer, cleaner Goa
should be the challenge for everyone who loves a good holiday on the
beach.



NOW ISN'T THAT A BIG SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!:lol::lol::lol:

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Cruise Mumbai – Goa
30 Oct: The Hindu. Blue Ocean Cruises brings its newly-acquired cruise liner MV Ocean Life to the Indian waters on November 9 ... The main cruises are: Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai (two nights), Mumbai-high seas (one night) and Mumbai-Lakshadweep-Mumbai (four nights). The vessel has 230 cabins and can accommodate 574 passengers... Cabin rates range from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 9,000 for one person for a night ... For more information log on to www.blueoceancruises.com

wonder if they are up to the standard of the Commonwealth Games.:rolleyes:


Five charters from Poland cancelled

31 Oct: Times of India. Five charter flights from Poland have been cancelled, while charter flights from Scandinavia will start almost a month late due to delay in issuing visas to the tourists ... The Indian embassies in those countries say it will take three weeks to issue visas whereas the potential tourists are accustomed to visas on arrival

:eek:ipaidabribe.com –

India's front line in the war on corruption
30 Oct. The Independent (UK). During the three decades that TR Raghunandan worked for the civil service in India, he saw for himself the devastating, corrosive impact of corruption. When he left, he decided he was going to try and stop it. His simple idea was to encourage people to talk about the bribes they are forced to pay, the circumstances they found themselves in that demanded the payments and the amount they were required to hand over... Corruption is a massive problem in India, an everyday occurrence for almost everyone...

www.goanvoice.org.uk

India today
 

the whole article makes for interesting reading

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

"while charter flights from Scandinavia will start almost a month late due to delay in issuing visas to the tourists "

This is pure desinformation, atleast about Sweden.
The time to get a visa is about the same as it has been the last five years, they say the handling time is 15 working days but I got mine in seven days.

The last three years 2 of 3 travel companies have cancelled flights to Goa due to weak response from swedish tourists.
The remaining company "Apollo" when presenting winter program in april had already then set first flight one month later, end of november instead of end of october.
I guess that they try to make a better balance in seats availble and the actual demand for seats.
To bad for me since I almost everytime could get a seat for £150-200, guess that isnt going to be as easy this season.

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6849887.cms

Hotels to take tourists' pics as security measure

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Hi Crille

I take it you are from Sweden ? Welcome to BE and welcome to the Goa forum. I am beginniong to think that the days of cheap flights to Goa are definitely over - which is a real shame.

Dread - x

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Thx dreadsoc!

Correct, I´m swedish. Usually I just read here as I´m not an expat, but just had to comment on the obvious lie from someone official in Goa.

Just packed and are now ready to go to the airport, arriving in Goa early wednesday morning.
Lets hope the weather will be better than the forecasts!

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Hi Crille,
You don't have to be an expat to join in our site - welcome and please stay with us, your views will be apprecited on anything to do with Goa :thumbsup:

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Hi Crille
As Noni says you don't have to be Brit to be welcome here. We welcome all folks who spend time in Goa - the more the merrier, so look forward to seeing lots more posts from you here.
Have a fabulous time in Goa - how long are you going to stay there?

Dread -x

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

And now an attack on Israeli's and backpackers.


http://uk.ihouseu.com/goa-travel-wri...li-travellers/

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Here we go again 9 more tenders for the River Princess.

http://www.oheraldo.in/news/Local%20...ids/42527.html

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Records break in 2010 rainfall on Goa.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6855901.cms

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Shack owner "assaults" tourists

I couldn't be bothered to type the whole article so have scanned it. From the ToI today, not in the online edition

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Bl**dy hell!

£67,00 for lunch for four adults and some kids?

Z-o-S has got expensive!


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