In view of the fact that family members of the dead emigrant face difficulties and inconveniences in repatriation of the mortal remains, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had held detailed deliberations on the issue with ambassadors of Gulf countries and officials of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) on 29 June 2014.
The minister had then instructed the officials of the ministry to develop an online system for facilitating transportation of mortal remains of dead Indian emigrants. Accordingly, the MOIA started working on the software module. Swaraj inaugurated the facility today at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Swaraj said, the online system of tracking transportation of bodies of emigrant workers has a big impact on a lot of families affected by such problems. The facility will mitigate their anxieties and provide relief to them, she said.
This software module can be accessed from the website of the ministry: http://www.moia.gov.in/. It will allow a person to submit an online application for transportation of mortal remains of the deceased emigrant. After successful submission of the application in the system, a unique Application Reference Number (ARN) is generated by the system. Online tracking of application is possible through the ARN. The online application is processed by the Indian foreign mission concerned electronically through the system. The applicant receives updates through email and SMS facility. He/she can view the update status of the case by using track system facility and can subsequently submit additional information.
The Indian missions are required to update the status and action taken on a daily basis. If a mission does not do this, an alert goes to its staff automatically from the system. The software module also enables the missions to file death reports in a host country based on information received from sources other than the family of the dead. The application will be closed only after the mortal remains are either transported or the mission provides valid reasons for not being able to transport the same.
Keeping in view the educational status of ECR passport holders, the system has also been linked with the Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC), which is an information facilitation as well as complaint redress centre for the emigrants. Those who cannot fill the information directly on this system can provide the information to the OWRC on toll free number (1800-113090); the OWRC would submit the same information to the system in a way similar to what is done by the individual. The OWRC is equipped to receive information in 11 languages, namely English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Odiya and Gujarati.
This software module accepts applications where the emigrant has died in 17 emigration check required (ECR) countries: Malaysia, Jordan, UAE, Yemen, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Thailand.
Press Information Bureau
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