Punjab CM says mass deportation from US eye opener, asks youths not to travel abroad illegally

Ludhiana: "The mass deportation from the United States is an eye opener for all of us," Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Sunday as he urged youths to shun the idea of going abroad illegally and work hard in the state to ensure its socio-economic growth.

Two US military planes have landed in Amritsar this month so far, deporting Indians as part of the Trump administration's promised crackdown on illegal migration. Another deportation flight from the US is scheduled to arrive in Amritsar on Sunday night.

Many deportees have claimed they were in shackles during the flights. The families of deportees have claimed that they took huge loans and some even sold their farmlands to send them to the US.

The deportees alleged that despite paying huge amounts to travel agents, they were made to travel to the US illegally without knowing. They now seek strict action against those agents.

Addressing a gathering at Ghungrali village here during a sports tournament, Mann said, "We are blessed to have taken birth on this sacred land which is the most fertile in the world." Due to the failure of successive governments in the state, youths were forced to migrate to other countries in search of greener pastures, he said.

The chief minister said, "The mass deportation from the US is an eye-opener for all of us and now we should not move abroad illegally, but rather work hard for the socio-economic growth of the state." Mann said the AAP government has already given more than 50,000 government jobs to the youths in Punjab purely based on merit. "This is for the first time in the history of the state that such a large number of government jobs have been given to the youth in three years." This trend will continue in the coming days too as a large number of jobs are in the pipeline, the chief minister said while claiming a reverse migration is being witnessed in Punjab as youths are leaving foreign land to get government jobs in the state.

Transparent recruitment has increased the faith of the youth in the state government and they are preparing for government jobs here, shunning the idea of moving abroad, said Mann.

Slamming rival party leaders, Mann said they are envious of him because he hails from an ordinary family. "These leaders who believed that they have the divine right to rule the state are not able to digest the fact that a common man is running the state efficiently."