The Punjab government Tuesday decided to announce a comprehensive
package for NRI Punjabis settled in various countries. This will be
announced at a three-day NRI convention to be held here Jan 3-5 next
year.
At a meeting held here, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh
Badal said all leading non-resident Indians (NRIs), including elected
representatives, former MPs, councillors, and media persons will be
invited for the convention.
"The first two days of the session
would be held in Chandigarh and the concluding day's session would be
held at Jalandhar. On the first day, a brainstorming meeting would be
held with the elected representatives of various countries to get their
suggestions for measures to be taken by the Punjab government for the
welfare of NRIs," a government spokesman said here.
Expressing
concern over illegal occupation of properties of NRIs in Punjab, Badal
asked senior officials to come out with a legal framework under which
protection of the NRI properties would be ensured.
"It was also
decided to have a suggestive list of lawyers for every city and put it
on the web so that NRIs could engage services of such lawyers for their
legal disputes," the spokesman said.
Concerned about the number
of youth, who had migrated illegally abroad, being detained in various
countries, Badal asked the NRI affairs department to conduct a global
census of such youth in coordination with the concerned embassies to
compile a comprehensive list so that modalities for getting them
released or providing them legal aid could be worked out by the Punjab
government, he added.
Badal said the Punjab government had
already given its approval to the Human Trafficking Act and was awaiting
the assent of the union government to prevent the fleecing of youth by
unscrupulous travel agents who cheat them in the name of sending them
abroad.
Taking a serious note of the increasing cases of
fraudulent marriages by NRIs and leaving brides in the lurch, Badal said
the Punjab government was awaiting the assent of the central government
for compulsory registration of marriages by NRIs to check this menace.
Punjab to announce package for NRIs
