Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) TheAustralian High Commission Saturday reacted strongly to media reports on “harassment” over the non-issuing of visas to an Indian lawn bowls team, insisting the players will have to re-submit the applications along with the visa fees.
The bowls teams were to go to Sydney earlier this month as a part of their training for the Oct. 3-14 Commonwealth Games but were denied the visas as most of the players, who are from Jharkhand, were found to have insufficient bank balances.

Intervention from sports ministry also didn’t seem to be of any use with Indian Lawn Bowls Federation calling off the training programme alleging “harassment”. A sports ministry official in a media report Saturday declared that no team will be sent for training to Australia from now on.

“We had positive discussions with the Ministry of Sport Wednesday where they provided us (for the first time) details of the Ministry’s financial assurance that had been requested on two separate occasions previously,” the Australian High Commission said in a statement Saturday.

“The previous applications for visas submitted by the team were refused because the required documentation was not provided (despite many requests from the High Commission). These documents were only tendered after the visas were refused.

“At the time of refusal there was no indication that such documents would be provided. At the time of the earlier visa refusals the Ministry had not advised the Australian High Commission of any details of their financial support.”

“It is a legal requirement of the Australian Government that visa fees are paid in order for an application to be valid. The Australian High Commission has no authority to waive fees (which cover the significant cost of processing visas, including unsuccessful applications),” the statement said .

The Australian High Commission says the sports ministry response to the media has “surprised” them.

“In the Wednesday meeting Australian High Commission officials made it clear to the Ministry of Sport that Australia welcomes a partnership with India to assist the preparation of Indian teams before the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

“Given the positive tone of our meeting, we fully expected further discussions would take place with the Ministry on future team visits to Australia, including the lawn bowls visit.

“We are therefore surprised that the Ministry has chosen to speak to the media in this way. The Australian High Commission stands ready, as it had conveyed to the lawn bowls team on Friday, to accept fresh applications from the team on Monday.”