‘High-level Indian delegation should visit Australia’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - A high-level delegation from India should visit Australia in the wake of the recent attacks on Indian students there, according to V.P. Unnikrishnan, secretary of the Federation of Indian Communities, Queensland (FICQ).

Unnikrishnan told IANS over phone from Brisbane Sunday that there is a general feeling in the Indian community in Australia that they were let down by the Indian government.

“Queensland has been unaffected till date but now the situation is different. There is an uneasy calm that prevails and it has now become clear that Indian students find it difficult to get accommodation,” Unnikrishnan said.

“The real estate agents do not appear happy when Indian students approach them for probable accommodation,” said Unnikrishnan, who is a native of this Kerala capital and has been settled in Brisbane, Queensland, for more than 10 years.

There are more than 40,000 Indian students in Queensland. Unnikrishnan was largely instrumental in organising a ‘Meet and Greet Programme’ last year in which three Queensland state ministers, officials, representatives of Indian associations and students’ representatives met to see that what happened in Melbourne, Victoria, should not happen in Queensland.

The Indian community in Queensland was dissatisfied after Umesh Chandra, an Indian who hails from Fiji, was appointed to act as a liaison officer to local Indian students in the wake of the attacks.

“We are getting numerous requests from Indian students who want accommodation because they are unable to get a proper accommodation. It is here that a visit from India would help because they can see for themselves and then start a dialogue with the Australian authorities,” said Unnikrishnan.

–Indo Asian News Service