A memorandum of the demands, that was presented to the Chairman, included a direct flight to Amritsar from California, a check on frauds by travel agents with youths, settlement of pending property disputes of NRIs in India and issuance of Indian passports and visas to those who had previously sought asylum
A delegation of the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), led by its Executive Director Satnam Singh Chahal, met Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities at Jalandhar on Saturday November 5, and spoke about the demands of the Punjabi diaspora with him.
A memorandum of the demands, that was presented to the Chairman, included a direct flight to Amritsar from California, a check on frauds by travel agents with youths, settlement of pending property disputes of NRIs in India and issuance of Indian passports and visas to those who had previously sought asylum.
Delegation members said more than five million Punjabi Sikhs were living in California, which was the single largest group of the Indian diaspora settled abroad. He said over six lakh Sikhs and Punjabis living in California had long been demanding direct flights to Amritsar. Chahal said the flight would also attract an equal number of Dispora members residing in the adjoining Canadian state of British Columbia — especially in Vancouver and Surrey. He also said Punjabis had also been inconvenienced due to lack of direct flights between San Fransisco and Amritsar, reported Tribune News Service.
The delegation raised the issue of pending visa applications of those who had sought asylum in US and Canada during militancy and were now lawful residents of these countries. Chahal said 500,000 of this category did not have Indian passports or were living with expired passports
Chahal also raised the issue of youths who had been duped by travel agents and had landed in the US, Canada, Europe and other countries illegally. He said many such men were imprisoned there.
The delegation also took up the issue of pending property disputes of NRIs in Punjab civil courts. They said the resolution of these disputes needed to be sped up. Chahal said though the government had empowered SDMs to restore the possession of disputed property to rightful owners, the opposite was happening under the district administrations.
The delegation raised the issue of pending visa applications of those who had sought asylum in US and Canada during militancy and were now lawful residents of these countries. Chahal said 500,000 of this category did not have Indian passports or were living with expired passports.
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