Don't make Amritsar 'deport centre': Mann slams Centre over landing of deportation flights in Punjab

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday kept up his attack on the Centre over the landing of US planes carrying illegal Indian immigrants at Amritsar airport and asked it not to make the holy city a "deport centre".

A second US flight carrying 119 illegal Indian immigrants is slated to land in Amritsar on Saturday night. On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian deportees landed at the Amritsar airport.

The chief minister visited the airport on Saturday and said his government has made arrangements to take the residents of Punjab from among the second batch of deportees to their hometowns.

The deportees who hail from other states will head to Delhi from Amritsar in a flight on Sunday morning and then they will be taken to their respective places, Mann said.

According to official sources, the second deportation flight from the US is expected to land at Amritsar airport around 10 pm on Saturday.

Talking to reporters at the airport, Mann continued his attack on the Centre and said, "Do not make our holy city (Amritsar) a deport centre." There are many airbases in the country and the flight can be landed at any one of them, the Punjab chief minister said.

Asked whether the second batch of deportees will be in shackles, he said they do not have any information on this. The Centre should have sent its own plane to bring illegal Indian deportees, Mann added.

Among the second batch of 119 Indians being deported from the US as part of the Donald Trump administration's promised crackdown on illegal migration, 100 are from Punjab and Haryana alone.

While 67 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

On Friday, Mann questioned the decision to land another plane at the Amritsar airport and accused the Centre of trying to defame Punjab as part of a conspiracy.

"The BJP-led Centre always discriminates against Punjab. It does not let go of any chance of defaming the state," Mann had said "As part of a conspiracy, they are trying to defame Punjab and Punjabis." Mann also asked the Centre under which criteria the Amritsar airport was chosen to land the second aircraft.

"What is the criterion for choosing Amritsar? The Centre and the Ministry of External Affairs should tell me. Why did you choose Amritsar and not the national capital? You did this to defame Punjab and Punjabis," Mann had alleged.

Noting that deportation is a national issue, Mann said it is being made to appear that only Punjabis migrate illegally.