NRI Sabha condemns Centre for delay in bringing youths home
Wednesday, 25/06/2014
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
JALANDHAR: The NRI Sabha, Punjab, on Tuesday accused the Centre and the Indian Embassy in Iraq of not making serious efforts to rescue the Indians stranded in the strife-tor n Gulf nation.
“The Indian government has not made any concrete efforts to bring home Indians in last 10 days whereas countries such as USA and Britain have ensured safe exit of their citizens. India has completely failed to do so,” said Jalandhar-based NRI Sabha president Jasvir Singh Shergill.
Lambasting the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, Gill said Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his government were making sincere efforts for the safe return of Punjabis from Iraq.
Neither the Prime Minister nor external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj took any initiative in this direction, he added.
He said it was astonishing to note that the government had not yet cracked down on fake travel agents who not only duped the youths but also put their lives at stake.
He said only 121 travel agents were registered in the state whereas 2,200 such agents operating were fake.
He said the phones of the youths stuck in Iraq had stopped ringing in the last two days following which it had become even more difficult for the NRI Sabha to contact them.
The NRI Sabha chief said Dubai-based businessman and head of Sarbat Da Bhalla Trust SBS Oberoi has extended help to sponsor a chartered plane to bring Indians back home and this had been conveyed to the union ministry of external affairs for further action.
