Punjab minister seeks rescue of women stranded in Muscat
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 May, 2023 11:22 AM
Chandigarh, May 12 (IANS) Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Friday wrote to S. Jaishankar, Union External Affairs Minister, about Punjabi women stranded in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
He requested to taking up the matter on humanitarian grounds with the embassies to ensure the safety of these women and necessary steps be taken to bring them back to India.
"I would like to draw your kind attention about the video that had gone viral and the news in some newspapers about the Punjabi women stranded in Muscat. Most of them went there in search of employment through an agent from Hyderabad as," Dhaliwal wrote in the letter to Union External Affairs Minister.
He demanded that necessary measures may also be undertaken by the External Affairs Ministry to stop such practices by unscrupulous agents so that innocent women may not be duped.
The bodies of a married couple and their two children, aged three and 11, were found metres from the border on Jan. 19, 2022. Investigators have said they believe the deaths were linked to a human smuggling operation, and a man charged in the U.S. is to stand trial later this year.
A video showing the woman's ordeal has gone viral on social media in which she is seen lying on the ground in a public place. The incident took place on Thursday and the woman, identified as Kalpana, was "turned back without check-up".
The Chief Minister, while interacting with the media after reviewing the progress of development projects worth Rs 167 crore in the city, said it is ironic that the Maharajas in power were more concerned about their own development rather than that of the city. He said though Patiala was known as 'City of Gardens' but due to apathy of those in power, the city lost its shine in the last few years.
Punjab Police's former Head Constable Gagandeep Singh, who planted the bomb at the court complex on December 23, 2021, was killed as it suddenly went off. Six others were injured. The case was initially registered at a Ludhiana police station, but later, it was taken over by the NIA.
Her statement comes after she was dragged by a man when she had gone for an inspection at AIIMS in the early hours of January 19. The man had started making lewd and vulgar gestures towards Maliwal and she was reprimanding him when he asked her to sit in his car, the man suddenly pulled the car glass up and hand of Maliwal got stuck in car's window,
The incident occurred on November 26 last year when the drunk passenger allegedly urinated on a co-passenger in her 70s in the business class of an Air India flight from New York to Delhi. Aviation regulator DGCA on January 5 had said that the conduct of Air India was unprofessional and has led to a systemic failure.
