Online submission of application for Protected Area Permit

In order to streamline and facilitate the processing of Protected Area Permit (PAP), the Home Ministry has launched online facilities of seeking such applications from foreigners intending to visit Tibetan settlements.

All foreigners intending to visit Tibetan settlements and camps in India may apply online for PAP by logging in Home Ministry's website, an official statement said.

It has been the policy of the government that all foreigners including the foreign aid agencies visiting the Tibetan settlements and camps should seek prior permission of the Home Ministry for visiting such settlements in the country.

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Settlement officers are to ensure that all foreigners visiting settlements should have valid Protected Area Permit as per the provision of the Foreigners Act, the statement said. Tibetan refugees began pouring into India in the wake of the flight of the Dalai Lama in 1959 from Tibet. The government decided to give them asylum as well as assistance towards temporary settlement.

Care has been taken to retain their separate ethnic and cultural identity. There are approximately 1.10 lakh Tibetan refugees residing in 45 settlements and outside the settlements spread in different states in the country.

Source: PTI