Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Friday expressed concerns at the apathy on the part of states, including Punjab, to take action against dubious agents running racket of illegally sending people abroad.
She said the agent, who had illegally sent workers to Iraq to be abducted by ISIS in Mosul and subsequently murdered, is still operating his racket in Punjab.
The MEA has taken up the issue with the Punjab government but it had failed to take action.
As many as 39 workers, mostly from Punjab, had been killed by ISIS in Mosul.
Inaugurating a National Conference on “NRI marriage and trafficking of women and children: Issue forward”, Swaraj said although the Centre was concerned over the menace, the action against the racketeers has to be taken by the state.
Law and order is a state subject as per the Constitutional scheme of things. The agents running the racket in the states have to be booked by the local governments concerned.
She lamented that despite her repeated requests to the state governments in the matter, they have been apathetic.
Dwelling on the issue, she said a new phenomenon of “asylum seekers” have come to notice where youngsters of the age group 20-25 are trying to go to US via Mexico and are getting caught at the border.
“We have come across three batches of around 500 people, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, who are illegally trying to get into US. Illegal immigration agents are charging Rs 20-25 lakhs for this. It is a very dangerous trend which we need to stop,” Swaraj added.
