Despite parking woes, many Indian expats in Qatar have expressed satisfaction with their embassy’s new, fancier office in Onaiza.

The Indian embassy in Doha officially began consular services from its new premises on Monday.

At the end of last week, it relocated from its former offices in Old Al Hilal to just north of West Bay Petrol Station, near other diplomatic missions such as the Iraqi, Thai and Tunisian embassies.

Indian residents who visited the embassy expressed mixed feelings about the new location.

Parking problems

Speaking to Doha News during a visit there this week, expat Mohammed Ashfaq said that he observed a significant improvement in crowd control and consular services in the new location.

However, Mohammed Ashfar argued that while the location is more accessible and the services are more streamlined, the parking situation has gotten worse.

“In the old area, they had a big parking lot with lots of space. Here, there is no parking available or it is very difficult to find,” he said.

Others in the area agreed, complaining to the government on Twitter about the traffic jams caused by the uptick in visitors to the area:

https://twitter.com/marzoqi_w/status/748463654098575360

Meanwhile, Shazlin Banu, an 18-year-old student, added that she appreciated the extra space inside the embassy, but found the mission difficult to navigate.

“Only they need to improve the help desk because there’s no proper queue,” she said.

Open house

The embassy will host its first open house at the new location today (Thursday), June 30.

Indian residents will have the opportunity to discuss any consular or labor problems in Qatar with officials.

The event will be held from 5:30pm till 6:30pm.

Any topics of discussion should be proposed to officials from 5:30pm to 6pm. A meeting with officials will follow where they will answer concerns.

Thoughts?