Hyderabad: Visas of three community workers of the Deccan Development Society who were awarded the Equator Prize by the United Nations in New York were rejected by the Consulate General of the United States office in Hyderabad.
After a hue and cry and a complaint to the US embassy, they were asked to re apply for visas. They have been invited by the UN to accept the awards.
On Friday morning, Ms Anasuyamma Chilkapally, Ms Mogulamma Kandakam and Ms Mayuri Masanagari were called again for the visa process. The women have been selected for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Equator Initiative for their grass root level works in the field of agriculture and natural, innovative solutions for climate change.
There are six women from DDS who are a part of the initiative but only three of them are going to the the US to receive the award. They are amongst the 20 winners who have worked at the community level and brought about change. The awards were announced in June.
The personal invitation letters from the UNDP with the exact dates which mention September 19 to 26, were attached during the first round of the visa process. The reason for participation in terms of community dialogues from September 20 to 25 has also been stated as the reason for them to stay in New York.
Mr P Satheesh, director of DDS, said, "Their fingerprints were taken in the first round on September 10. They were then called for an interview on September 11.
After that they were handed a paper saying they were ineligible and the visas were rejected. We had to complain to the embassy.
The attention from there got them to ask us to reapply. We have submitted the invitation letters of the three women and that is self-explanatory. We have to now reapply and that means doing the complete process again."
The visa desk where an online complaint was registered stated that they must apply again and follow the process. On Friday, the women were again called for the interview and the process restarted. The visas are yet to be issued.
The USA consulate office refused to comment on the particular incident.
