Notice to 12 foreign students for violating visa norms

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, December 7

The foreign registration office (FRO) has issued show-cause notices to 12 foreigner students of Landour Language School for violating tourist visa rules.

The school principal has also been issued a notice for imparting education without registering the students under the student visa category.

Foreigner students in the school were doing Hindi and other language courses in violation of the visa rules laid down under the Foreigners and the Passport Act.

It is mandatory for tourists to enroll under student visa in order to receive any form of education in the country. Their passports that were confiscated by FRO officials had been returned to them, but they were facing expulsion from the country that could be within three to four days, sources said.

Officials from both the state and Central government are now trying to ascertain the motive behind running the school solely for foreigners here.

Many residents have termed this development as unfortunate as the school has been imparting lessons in Hindi and other vernacular languages over the decades.

The move of government officials has come as a big blow to the Landour cantonment community as its economy, to great extent, depends on foreigners receiving Hindi lessons from the Landour Language School. They come here in large numbers irrespective of any month of the year.

Sushil Kumar, ward member, Landour cantonment board, said most of the employment that was being generated in the area was due to foreigners staying here for language lessons and if they were not allowed to study then it would result in revenue loss to the hill town of Mussoorie. He said it was due to Landour Language School that the national language (Hindi) was being publicised in other parts of the world. They were working towards developing it as an international language but if foreign students were not allowed to study Hindi then it could prove to be detrimental for the town’s economy and also for those who are directly dependent on employment generated due to foreign tourists visiting here.

However, many residents of the town feel that the cantonment board is preferably a residential area. But owing to increased commercial activity, the peace of the area is getting disturbed, hence commercial activities should be limited to certain extent.

Some residents believe that a large number of guest houses have mushroomed in the area due to foreign students coming to learn Hindi and other regional languages. Most of these are running without any appropriate permission of the cantonment board and this practice should come to an end.

Landour Cantonment Board vice-president Mahesh Chandra is of the view that the departments concerned should provide either provide appropriate permits or should ask them to shut down their units in the larger interest of residents, avoiding any sort of ambiguity among residents here.

Many residents without being named believe that the Landour Language School has been running from over a century and to penalise it for imparting Hindi lessons to foreigners on tourist visa indicates some sort of conspiracy which needs to be probed further.