J A L A N D H A R Every Friday

Foreign land? Aho(y)!
Believe it or not, 15,000 fresh passports are being issued in the Doaba region every month to people chasing the NRI dream. Varinder Singh reports on the new turn to immigration which has now become an exodus.
It may be a mirage of a better future or a distant dream, but the youth of Doaba are not hesitating to follow it despite the uncertainty that comes attached with it.

Foreign land? Aho(y)!

Believe it or not, 15,000 fresh passports are being issued in the Doaba region every month to people chasing the NRI dream. Varinder Singh reports on the new turn to immigration which has now become an exodus.

It may be a mirage of a better future or a distant dream, but the youth of Doaba are not hesitating to follow it despite the uncertainty that comes attached with it. They are heading for foreign shores in thousands every month and without calculating any risks involved in the game.

The trend to go and settle abroad is catching the fancy of youngsters here to such an extent that nearly 40 per cent of the total population of the youngsters have either already left for foreign countries—legally or illegally— or a large number of them waiting for the next available opportunity.

The driving force behind their fast flight from the Doaba region is unemployment and the dream of a “golden” future in foreign land, which hardly gets fulfilled. Most of them do not brace themselves up for the hardships involved in staying and working abroad.

Not only the unemployed youngsters, but also well-settled middle-aged people, who have good jobs at hand here but are not satisfied with their income, aspire to join the hot race towards favoured destinations like Europe, the UK, the US or Australia.

“Five out of ten youngsters here are leaving for foreign countries like the UK, Australia and Canada every month. And the percentage is rising with countries like the UK opening more doors for them,” says Ms Diamond Sodhi, a Jalandhar-based visa consultant, particularly dealing in student visas. “A large number of youngsters availing the UK holiday visa scheme, wherein people between the age group of 17-30 are welcomed. Actually, countries like the UK and Australia are wooing youngsters making these favoured destination.”

“Australia,” she adds, “has declared that it is in need of 20,000 skilled workers in the next five years and our youngsters are making full use of this opportunity.”

Mr Dharampal Sondhi, a leading travel agent of Jalandhar, says, “The outflow of Doaba youngsters to foreign countries is witnessing a steep rise. Earlier, we used to deal with air tickets of two to three youngsters a month. But now we handle cases of three to four youngsters per day. The main attraction among youngsters is either Europe or Australia.” According to Mr Anuraag Sood, a social worker and a leading farmer of Hoshiarpur, hundreds of youngsters from Mahilpur-Phagwara and Tanda-Bholath belts of Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts are moving abroad. “ It is a well-known fact that only caretakers or old people are left behind by the overpowering NRI dream in these areas. They have no other resolve in their lives than to settle abroad.” Mr Sood, who frequently travels abroad, says that though life turns out to be comfortable for some aspirants, it becomes a nightmare for a large number of youngsters.

“In South Hall (UK) and at other places, a huge chunk of those youngsters, who have gone there illegally, are seen begging to be hired as labourers. They are not only exploited by the foreigners, but also by well-settled Asians, who pay them lesser than the minimum wages. But the migrants cannot do anything about it as their presence in that country is illegal,” Mr Sood said.

The chief of the Lok Bhalai Party (LBP), Mr Balwant Singh Raamowalia, has a ghastly tale to tell about predicament of youngsters abroad. “Over 2.5-lakh Punjabi youngsters, who have gone illegally after having been misguided by travel agents, are stranded in foreign countries and nearly one lakh out of them belong to the Doaba region of Punjab.”

He says 10 youngsters from the Bathinda area, who had been sent to Kuwait by a travel agent after fleecing an amount of Rs 1.2 lakh from each of them, have sent a fax to him. “They have narrated their tale of woe and their account shows that they have to work for over 14 hours under perilous conditions.”

“Hardships abroad hardly work as a deterrent for these young aspirants,” Ms Davinder Kaur Aulakh, the chairperson of the Hoshiarpur-based Sri Guru Ramdass Institute of Nursing and Hospital says. “We have a large number of girls with us, who have only one objective in life and that is to go abroad any how. Since nurses have the maximum scope for getting quick employment abroad, a large number of girls, even from good families, are getting education in the nursing stream,” she adds.

Sources in the police point out that nearly 15,000 persons with fresh passports were flying to foreign destinations from Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi and from Rajasansi Airport at Amritsar every month. “ Of these 15,000 passengers, nearly 10,000 were youngsters with fresh passports and most of them are going abroad either to study or get a job,” the police officer said.