African students on Friday expressed the problems they were facing in the City during their meeting with Tanzanian High Commissioner John W H Kijazi and senior officials of Ministry of External Affairs.
About 60 students attended the interaction meeting held at the police commissioner’s office. Some of the students voiced issues like frequent tiffs with autorickshaw drivers, shops charging more for commodities, house owners hiking the rent exorbitantly and misundertsanding with locals due to language problems.
The students said that they came to Bengaluru for academic programmes. They also said that they respect the Indian law and expect the Bengalurueans to treat them like human beings. After the meeting, which was also attended by senior police officers, students said they were satisified with the assurances made by the police.
Meanwhile, the High Commissioner expressed satisfaction over the safety measures for African students in Bengaluru. “I don’t think the Bengaluru incident will have any adverse impact on Indo-African ties and relations including ties with Tanzania. The Indian government has expressed its commitment for the safety of African nationals in India” he told reporters after the meeting.
“The African community does not carry any negative opinion about the police and the locals. We had a detailed discussion regarding measures to prevent violence in future. A large number of African students stay in Bengaluru, Mumbai and other major cities in India and Bengaluru houses highest number of African students. We have highest respect for the law on the Indian soil,” he said.
DG and IGP Omprakash said that local police station inspectors had been directed to hold meetings once a month to redress the grievances of Africans. City Police Commissioner N S Megharik said that the African students have called off their protest in the City on Saturday after the assurances made by the police.
Published 05 February 2016, 20:46 IST