Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Dhaliwal Announces Free Legal Assistance To 700 Students Stranded In Canada
Chandigarh, June 8 (TNA) Punjab NRI affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has said that the Punjab government will provide free legal assistance to around 700 students facing deportation from Canada. Most of these students belong to Punjab and they will be assisted by lawyers who are experts in immigration laws in Canada. Along with this, Dhaliwal has also written a letter to all MPs of Punjab origin in Canada to solve the issue of these students so that the future of the children can be secured.
Presiding over a high-level meeting with civil and police officers associated with NRI department at Punjab Bhawan, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal issued instructions to all Deputy Commissioners and SSPs to scrutinize the documents of travel agents and immigration agencies and send a report by July 10. He expressed concern that many travel agents are running immigration agencies illegally.
Dhaliwal also said that in the last 10 years, if any immigrant Punjabi has been deliberately implicated in a wrong case, then it should be brought to their attention. Such cases will be investigated and justice will be given to the victim. Taking an exclusive initiative, this time NRI meetings will be held for the first time in those villages of Punjab whose immigrants have done good work in their villages or earned the name at the national or international level. Dhaliwal informed that NRI meetings to be held at the district level from July 15 to August 30.
He invited all NRPs (Non-Resident Punjabis) to bring their problems during NRI meetings and efforts will be made to solve every problem on the spot. The minister also instructed the police and civil officials in strict words that the grievances of the migrant Punjabis, which have not been resolved so far, should be settled by June 30. A total of 609 complaints were received in the first NRI meeting, out of which 522 have been resolved while 87 complaints are pending.
Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal also informed that there is a plan to bring a new NRI policy by September 30 to resolve all kinds of problems and complaints of NRPs. He said that the contribution of migrant Punjabis cannot be ignored in fulfilling the dream of making the state ‘Rangla Punjab’ by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will soon launch the new and more convenient website of the NRI department.
Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who has also written a letter in this regard to the External Affairs minister, said the emphasis should be on taking strict action against dubious institutions as well as authorized agents who had played with the future of the students. “Unsuspecting students who are victims to this scam should be treated sympathetically as they have fulfilled all needed criteria for securing Permanent Residency after up-skilling themselves and should be granted the same without any hindrance”.
Explaining the fraud perpetrated on the students, Badal said “first they were given forged admission letters to a renowned college after being charged Rs 16 to 20 lakhs each for the same. When they reached Canada the students were informed that the admission had been cancelled and admission was secured for them in an alternative institution”. Badal said the students up-skilled themselves in the alternative institution but were issued deportation orders when they applied for Permanent Residency as their original admission documents were found to be fake.