Badal urges Sibal to facilitate access of local SIMs to NRIs

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought intervention of Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to put in place a mechanism to issue local SIM cards to NRIs on the basis of their passports.
In a letter to Sibal, the Chief Minister apprised him that NRIs were facing lot of difficulties in getting mobile SIM cards while visiting India as they do not have any local identification proof.
The issue had earlier been raised by ministers, MPs, MLAs, councillors and mayors from different parts of the world, who had come to participate, in the Punjabi NRI conference held in January organised by the state government in Chandigarh and Jalandhar, according to an official release here today.

The chief minister impressed upon Sibal to get this genuine demand of NRIs thoroughly examined immediately and issue necessary guidelines to allow them local mobile SIM cards in order to mitigate their hardships.