MIDLANDS VOICE
Visa office still a 'nightmare'
4
Dhiren Katwa
The opening of an Indian visa application centre in a Birmingham street continues to cause inconvenience to residents, eight months after it opened. Fed-up residents in Vicarage Road, Edgbaston, have again appealed to local MP Gisela Stuart for help. MP Stuart, pictured, (Lab; Edgbaston) in an e-mail to active campaigner Karen Malte Nielsen said: “Yes I can see your utter frustration. I would feel the same.” She added: “I wish I had the power to make any of these decisions.” The main cause of chaos is that 4 Vicarage Court, the premises occupied by VFS Global have no parking spaces, nor is there any public parking on the main Vicarage Road. Mrs Nielsen, who has felt the need to put out cones bearing the 'No Entry' sign outside her home each day for the last eight months to
cordon off a private car park ,said: "It has been an absolute nightmare. Without the cones we'd be swamped with cars belonging to visitors to the visa centre. However a number of people just disregard the cones and park anyway, sometimes even driving across the grassed areas." Since August last year, the office has been home to VFS Global, the outsourcing agency which issues visas on behalf of foreign embassies, in this case for India.
Traditional Indian games organised to celebrate Woman-Power
On Sunday 23rd March 2014, 200 ladies/girls all across the country, put on their sports gear and gathered in Leicester respectively to compete in three very different games: Kabaddi, Kho-Kho and Ring. These traditional Indian games challenged all participants to demonstrate their skills, strength, teamwork and tactics, all of which needed to be present to lift the trophy at the end. For Hindu Sevika Samiti UK (the ladies) the level of competition had never been higher with all working together in unity to take the winning trophy home. The year of 2013 marked the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, who in the 19th century showed the path of light to the world by introducing Yoga and Vedanta Philosophy in the West. As a part of the celebrations Samiti set a challenge this year to all competitors to demonstrate a new innovate
game highlighting the qualities of Swami Vivekananda. 12 new innovative games were created on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda to physically and mentally stimulate our learning. Throughout the day the demonstration of all the sports was at it’s highest. After all the games were played, the winners were finally announced with Wembley being Champions of Kabaddi, Woolwich winning KhoKho and Birmingham becoming Lords (or Ladies) of the Ring! With such a brilliant atmosphere and community spirit, everyone there was enthused to keep up the practice and come again next year with an even higher standard of play.To find out more about the rules of Kabaddi, Kho-Kho and Ring contact your nearest branch of HSS UK or please visit www.hssuk.org. All are welcome to attend.
New restaurant appoints homeless to the kitchen
A new upmarket restaurant is not only popular amongst the foodies, but it’s proved to be a super hit amongst the city’s homeless – by recruiting street people to work in kitchens. Waqar Mirza, one of the owners of Erdington’s Kebab and Grill Co, provides meals for individuals supported by Birmingham Homeless Outreach. Since opening in December, three of the 10-strong staff have been
hired from the homeless community and trained to work in the kitchens. Waqar, aged 32, reportedly said: “Why not change lives if you can? When I took them on, they had no confidence. Now their confidence has grown. “I want this to be a community diner, I want it to be a community hub. I want to plough something back into schools and the people. “Nothing is impossi-
www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 29th March 2014
In November last year, a public meeting was called by Waymede Residents Association in an attempt to iron out the raft of problems and find solutions. But progress has been very slow. Some of the problems cited at this meeting, at which MP Stuart was present, included: people knocking on doors of neighbouring offices and homes asking to use their toilets as no such facilities are available in the VFS Global office; people urinating behind large dustbins; cars blocking drives; parking on double-yellow lines; people hurling abuse at neighbours; tissues containing excrement and litter being dropped through letterboxes; drivers going the wrong way up and down the one-way street; inappropriate use of disabled badges. VFS Global have since opened a new office in Leicester, apparently in the hope that it would ease the burden on the Birmingham
office. But the Leicester office is open only on Fridays. It’s closed rest of the week. According to Mark Lee, CEO of Calthorpe Estates, which owns the freehold and is now also the head leaseholder, VFS Global are using the appeal process to seek an extension on the time given to vacate up until August. The case of appeal is now with an officer at the Planning Inspectorate for validation. Once validated, which can take up to a fortnight, an appeal notice will be published on the Inspectorate’s website and will notify Birmingham City Council. The Council will then launch a six week consultation with those affected to comment on the appeal. Have you visited the offices of VFS Global in Vicarage Road? What has your experience been? Please tell us by emailing dhiren.katwa@abpl group.com
Businesswomen handed suspended jail terms for £200,000 charity fraud
Ranjit Uppelle and Kavita Jnagal, cofounders of Edgbaston-based Simply Recruitment, who rubbed shoulders with the Queen, Prince Charles, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, George Osborne, Dragon's Den tycoon James Caan, were handed suspended jail terms and ordered to pay £1,000 costs. But the pair’s Kavita Jnagal and Ranjit Uppelle astonishing rise was reportedly told police they had built on a £200,000 charity been ordered to carry out fraud which has now seen them courses online, inputting data shamed in a London courtsupplied to them on crib sheets. room, the Birmingham Mail has Uppelle, 41, of Bernard reported. Road, Edgbaston, and Jnagal, The pair, and several accom37, of Woodheys Lawns, plices, raked in thousands of Rugeley, near Lichfield, both pounds in commission for fakadmitted conspiracy to defraud. ing student enrolment and They were handed suspended exam result records in adult jail terms of nine and six education packages. Fake promonths respectively at files were apparently created Southwark Crown Court. Both and hundreds of “students” were also ordered to pay £1,000 were suspected to have been costs. enrolled without their knowlUppelle and Jnagal entered edge, in a bid to receive fundtheir pleas last August but they ing. Staff were then allegedly can only now be reported after pressured to sit the exams and the scam’s ringleader, Sandeep doctor results to secure the govJethwa, admitted the same ernment cash. Employees were charge in January. even reportedly coerced into Jethwa, of Bishop’s forging the signatures of fake Stortford, Hertfordshire, was students to add extra weight to jailed for a year and has already the fraud. Work was also faked repaid £120,000. for genuine students who The 43-year-old was the enrolled on courses but later director of an Essex-based firm pulled out. And other results called First Contact Training, were doctored to make it later known as Extra appear that students who failed Management Services. the tests had, in fact, passed. The Metropolitan Police’s Around £200,000 was believed Fraud Squad was alerted to the to have been defrauded UfI’s concerns about an unusubetween March and November al number of high-level passes 2010. A number of key witnessin February, 2011. es from within the businesses ble.” It’s the London businessman’s first venture into the restaurant industry after a lucrative career in construction. He and his team hope to
open five Kebab and Grill Co outlets in Birmingham before spreading the brand north. Kebab and Grill Co can cater for 22 covers and is fully licensed.
Mother sentenced to life in a notorious Pakistan prison with baby A Birmingham mother has been sentenced to life in a notorious Pakistan prison, along with her 17 months old baby daughter, allegedly for carrying 63kgs of heroin. Shah, Khadija 26, from Small Heath, was arrested at Islamabad airport Khadija Shah with her daughter Malaika at in May 2012 while Adiala Jail in Pakistan heavily pregnant. She was convicted of smuggling 63kg of heroin despite denying the charges against her. The mother-of-three has always protested her innocence, claiming that she agreed to transport suitcases as a favour for men she had only recently met, and said that she had no idea what was inside. She was forced to return to the cramped, unsanitary conditions of Adiala Jail after giving birth to daughter Malaika in October 2012. The child, now 17 months, has shared a cell with her mother ever since. Khadija’s other young children, Ibrahim and Aleesha, who were originally locked up with her, have since returned to the West Midlands. Legal charity Reprieve is challenging the government on its decision to provide more than £5million in counter-narcotics aid to Pakistan since 2010, in the light of the heavy penalties – including death sentences – the country hands down for nonviolent drugs offences.
Man punches and kicks woman who resembles his mother An angry would be robber punched and kicked a 60 years old woman in a leicester street, for resembling his mother, a court has heard. Asif Hussain (30), who has mental health problems, had just argued with his mother and felt aggrieved because she would not give him any money. He targeted the voluntary worker, who was walking with a friend in Leicester’s Melton Road, and tried to steal her handbag, at 11.30 am on July 5 last year. A passer-by, who intervened and then pointed out Hussain’s whereabouts to the police was publicly commended by the judge and awarded £250 from public funds. Hussain was jailed for 20 months, after admitting attempted robbery.
Hundreds of runners participate in Leicester Recourse fun day
Azim Akber, Mariam Abdulla, Azmeena Abdulla, Sajjida Abdulla and Aamir Hussain
A day of seriousness turned into a lot of fun, enjoyed by hundreds of fun runners taking part in Sainsbury's Sport Relief Mile at Leicester Racecourse on last Sunday. Hundreds of people went the extra mile for the biennial appeal, raising thousands of pounds to help people in need at home and abroad. They included runners and walkers of every age, who paid to take on either one, three or six-mile courses. Jason Brooks, 37, manager of the Oadby Owl pub, in Glen Road, was one of them. He was joined by three members of staff, who between them raised more than £200 for the appeal.