As 3rd US plane with 112 deportees lands at Amritsar airport, politicians stay at bay
Of the 112 deportees, 44 are from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 31 from Punjab, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
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The third US military aircraft carrying 112 illegal immigrants at the Amritsar airport on Sunday (Express Photo/Rana Simranjit Singh)A US military aircraft carrying 112 Indians landed at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji International Airport in Amritsar late on Sunday night, the
third such flight bringing deportees as part of a crackdown by the Donald Trump administration against illegal immigrants.
The plane landed at the airport around 10:03 pm on Sunday. Of the 112 deportees, 44 are from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 31 from Punjab, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
There are 19 women and 14 minors, including two infants, in the fresh batch of deportees, the sources said. The third batch of deportees landed in Amritsar within 24 hours of another US military aircraft bringing the second such batch.
While the families of some of the deportees have already reached the airport, the deportees will be allowed to head to their homes after
completion of all formalities including immigration, verification and background checks.
Even as politicians remained absent from the scene on Sunday, arrangements were made for the transportation of deportees to their destination. A day before, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had criticised the Centre for selecting Amritsar airport for landing flights, accusing the BJP-led government of attempting to “defame the holy city” by creating the perception that all deportees were from Punjab.
Union MoS Ravneet Singh Bittu was also present at the airport on Saturday and countered Mann on behalf of the BJP. Unlike the first two flights, the Haryana government sent special buses to pickup deportees that belonged from the state. The state government sent 52-seater AC buses branded with ‘Mukhyamantari Tirath Yatra Yojana Haryana’ and pictures of PM Narendra Modi and CM Nayab Singh Saini on the banner.
On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying the first batch of 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar. Of the deportees in the
first batch, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, and 30 from Punjab.
On Saturday evening, a second aircraft brought 116 deportees from the United States, amid questions raised by several political leaders,
including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, over the BJP-led Centre’s move to allow planes carrying immigrants to land in Amritsar.
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