Chinese consulate to come up at Salt Lake.

Reported by Debashis Konar.
Times City. November 2, 2007.

Kolkata. The Chinese government will set up a consulate at Salt Lake. Officials from Beijing will decide on the address on Saturday. The satellite town was selected for its proximity to the airport and relative absence of traffic snares.
Earlier, the ministry of external affairs had given its nod to a Chinese consulate in the city and Mao Sien was appointed the Chinese consul general in Kolkata. Sien met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee recently. At present, he is operating from a five star hotel.
The Chinese officials are bunting for a 6,000 sq. ft. site and may even consider a building at the IT hub in Sector V. “Ideally, we are looking for a three storey building. We don’t want to share the premises for security reasons,” A diplomat said.
The consulate will help the city’s Chinese population with processing visas, notaris
ation and authentication of documents.
Welcoming the move, Indian Chinese Association for Culture president Paul Chung said once the consulate begins operations, it would be a boost to the 5,000- plus Chinese population in the city.
“It will go a long way in promoting cultural and economic ties. At present, we have to approach the Chinese embassy in Delhi for various needs, including sourcing textbooks,” he said,