Assuring support and cooperation to distressed families of youth from Punjab stuck in strife-torn Iraq, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the state government was constantly in touch with the Centre to ensure their safe return.
Interacting with a delegation of family members of such youth, who met him at the sidelines of a function here today, Badal said he was personally in touch with the Union government and the officers of Ministry of External Affairs to ensure safe and prompt return of every Punjabi stuck in Iraq.
Expressing satisfaction over the efforts made by the Centre in this regard, he exhorted the distressed families to have faith on the Union government, which he said "was not leaving any stone unturned for safely evacuating every single Indian from Iraq."
Badal also assured them that on its part the state was making strenuous efforts to expedite the process for release of next of their kin, who were trapped in Iraq.
The Chief Minister further said he had been regularly taking up the matter with the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who had informed him that the Centre was exploiting all the diplomatic channels for ensuring the early release of all the Punjabis trapped in Iraq.
"The Union government has assured that it would make sure that every Indian returns to his home safely irrespective of the fact that whether he/she possesses the relevant immigration documents or not," he said.
On the delegation's request regarding financial assistance to them, the Chief Minister said he has directed the Deputy Commissioner Amritsar to immediately release the pending assistance to these families.
Earlier, Badal had announced to grant financial assistance of Rs 20,000 per month to the distressed families of 40 Punjabis stuck up in Mosul town in Iraq in order to bail them out from the financial stringency in these difficult times.
