ATTARI: With most of Punjab’s youth deported from the US coming from rural areas, Border Area Sangharsh Committee voiced its concern on Sunday over the financial sacrifices made by parents and the futility of illegal immigration. The committee demanded that state govt create local employment opportunities for the unskilled workforce.
“Farmers are already burdened with debt, and their children face a lack of employment opportunities in both the private and govt sectors,” the committee’s general secretary Rattan Singh Randhawa said following a series of emergency meetings.
He said jobless youth, yearning for a life of material comfort, often take illegal routes to achieve the American dream. In such circumstances, many parents, driven by hope, take the extreme step of sending their children abroad through illegal means, resorting to selling their land and plunging themselves into poverty.
Arjan Singh from the border area said their goal is to raise awareness through meetings, warning both those willing to send their children abroad and urging the govt to create job opportunities and prevent the villagers from taking desperate steps of going abroad, specially illegally.