Bathinda: He tried his hands at a dairy farm, but a cattle disease, lumpy skin, put a spanner. He then got into horse trading, but failed again. Now when tried to settle in the US, 32-year-old Gurpreet Singh Bhangu‘s fortunes took a turn for the worse.
A resident of Baggeana village in Faridkot district, Gurpreet is among the 116 illegal immigrants deported by the US on Saturday. The family is so shattered that they have declined to speak to anyone for the time being.
Village residents too are at pains to describe the ordeal of Gurpreet, also known as Prince Bhangu. He reached home in the wee hours of Sunday, but stayed put inside the home.
Baggeana former panchayat member Mangal Kumar said Gurpreet, some years ago, had opened a dairy farm, but lumpy skin disease spread soon after and many of the cattle heads died. He closed down the dairy and then tried his luck in trading horses, but here too he could not succeed.
He then tried to settle in foreign shores and reached Italy. The family had earlier told TOI that during his stay in Italy, Gurpreet met a travel agent who assured to take him to the US. Gurpreet arranged Rs 25 lakh and reached the US through the donkey route. Only after reaching the US, he was caught and put in a detention centre from where he has been deported.
Mangal said the central and state govts must come to the support of the aggrieved families who decided to migrate for greener pastures by spending huge sums of money. “The system too is responsible for their ordeal,” he said.
Faridkot DSP (headquarters) Shamer Singh Shergill, who had gone to Amritsar international airport to bring Gurpreet home, said the police team escorted him back to the village.
“Whenever a complaint is filed by the aggrieved family, appropriate action will be taken against the travel agent upon investigating the matter,” he said.
Bathinda: He tried his hands at a dairy farm, but a cattle disease, lumpy skin, put a spanner. He then got into horse trading, but failed again. Now when tried to settle in the US, 32-year-old Gurpreet Singh Bhangu’s fortunes took a turn for the worse.
A resident of Baggeana village in Faridkot district, Gurpreet is among the 116 illegal immigrants deported by the US on Saturday. The family is so shattered that they have declined to speak to anyone for the time being.
Village residents too are at pains to describe the ordeal of Gurpreet, also known as Prince Bhangu. He reached home in the wee hours of Sunday, but stayed put inside the home.
Baggeana former panchayat member Mangal Kumar said Gurpreet, some years ago, had opened a dairy farm, but lumpy skin disease spread soon after and many of the cattle heads died. He closed down the dairy and then tried his luck in trading horses, but here too he could not succeed.
He then tried to settle in foreign shores and reached Italy. The family had earlier told TOI that during his stay in Italy, Gurpreet met a travel agent who assured to take him to the US. Gurpreet arranged Rs 25 lakh and reached the US through the donkey route. Only after reaching the US, he was caught and put in a detention centre from where he has been deported.
Mangal said the central and state govts must come to the support of the aggrieved families who decided to migrate for greener pastures by spending huge sums of money. “The system too is responsible for their ordeal,” he said.
Faridkot DSP (headquarters) Shamer Singh Shergill, who had gone to Amritsar international airport to bring Gurpreet home, said the police team escorted him back to the village.
“Whenever a complaint is filed by the aggrieved family, appropriate action will be taken against the travel agent upon investigating the matter,” he said.
