India News | List of Unscrupulous Travel Agents Ready, Strict Action Will Be Taken: Punjab Minister

Chandigarh, Jul 7 (PTI) Punjab's NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Friday said a list of unscrupulous immigration agents who dupe people by sending them abroad on fake documents is ready and added that strict action will be taken against them.

Dhaliwal said the Punjab government will provide all possible help to the state's youth who fall prey to the fraud of such travel agents, according to an official statement.

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The minister said a special meeting NRI Affairs department officials and police officers has been called on July 11. He said possible measures against such travel agents will be discussed at the meeting, he said. The government is committed to the welfare of the state's youth, he added.

The statement also cited the story of a woman from Punjab who was stranded in Iraq for 10 months due to the false promises of travel agents.

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The woman claimed that a travel agent promised her a lucrative job in a packaging firm and was charged Rs 80,000, but when she landed in Iraq, her passport and documents were taken away and was made to sign some contract, the statement said. She later established contact with her family who contacted Dhaliwal, it said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said Punjab's immigration law needs to be amended to ensure strict action against the travel agents.

Referring to the case of several Indian students in Canada who were duped by immigration agents, Mann said the state government is in contact with the Canadian embassy to ensure that the culprits get strict punishment in Punjab.

The Indian students, mostly from Punjab, are facing deportation after the authorities in Canada found "admission offer letters" to educational institutions to be fake. The matter came to light in March when these students applied for permanent residency in Canada.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)