‘All were handcuffed during flight… It seems they have seen hot food after ages’: Official who received US deportees in Amritsar
The official said that deportees revealed that all men and women on the flight, barring children, were handcuffed and their feet also were chained.
3 min read
The deportees include 25 women and 12 minors, with the youngest passenger being just four years old. Forty-eight individuals are below the age of 25. (Express File Photo)Many men and women who landed in Amritsar on Wednesday told Punjab government officials that they were led astray by travel agents.
Punjab government officials who received the 104 men, women and children will now facilitate their journey to their hometowns. Many, officials said, feel embarrassed and are reluctant to inform their families of what transpired.
A senior Punjab government official who met the deportees at the airport told The Indian Express, “We have put them in contact with their loved ones and are arranging safe transport for them back home. It seems they have seen hot food after ages. We are also collecting information on the agents who sent them via illegal routes. Some of them were in the UK for a year or so and then travelled to the US.”
The official said that deportees revealed that all men and women on the flight, barring children, were handcuffed and their feet were also chained. The official also added that while most seemed fine after landing, a few women broke down.
“We served them a thali of hot food, including dal, rice, roti and sabzi. Children were given biscuits, juice and colouring books. It seemed they had had hot, fresh food after ages. Many felt betrayed by the travel agents, and some were initially reluctant to reveal their names. They are also embarrassed,” said the official.
“They are narrating harrowing experiences. Some requested us not to tell their families about the deportation. We are counselling them. We have also given them the helpline numbers of the Punjab NRI wing and district employment bureaus. We are trying to help them as much as possible,” said the official.
In Punjab, relatives of the deportees said they spent between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 50 lakh to send them to the US, where they reached illegally and hoped to apply for asylum.
“My grandson had gone to the US just 15 days ago. I was not in favour of the decision. I don’t know how much money the family spent on sending him,” said the grandfather of one of the youths who landed in Amritsar.
A relative of another deported person from Amritsar said he reached the US just a month ago. “He became a bus driver there after paying Rs 30 lakh to reach the country,” said the relative. “We had no contact with him for the last 15 days. We got a call from the police station this morning saying that he would reach Amritsar today.”
Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, the state’s NRI Affairs Minister, said the state government would support the men and women. “I will take it up with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the Cabinet meeting on February 10 that we should ask banks to waive the interest of those who took loans to go to the US.”
You May Like
