Sold ancestral land, took Rs 41 lakh loan to send him to US: Mother of Dera Bassi deportee

Pardeep’s family is uncertain of what happens next. A resident of Jarout village and one of the 30 Punjab youths, Pardeep, has been deported by the US government under new immigration laws.

A US military C-17 aircraft carrying the first batch of 104 illegal Indian immigrants reached Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport Amritsar today afternoon.

The 21-year-old Pardeep is a Class 12 passout who had gone abroad six months ago. The family with parents and a grandmother lives in their own house in a dense locality of Jarout.

Talking to mediapersons, Pardeep’s mother, who refused to be identified, sounded worried. “We had taken Rs 41 lakh loan to send him abroad in the hope of reviving family’s fortune. We sold our one acre of ancestral land and took loan to send him to the US.”

Pardeep’s mother said the family’s financial position is very tight now. “We do not know what happens next. We had hoped that the financial condition of the family would improve, but unfortunately, he was forced to return,” she added.

The family said they had completed all the documentation to go abroad through an agent. “His father is very tense now,” she said.

Pardeep, who hails from a Jat family with small land holding in the village, has one elder sister who is unmarried. His father is suffering from depression for past sometime, village residents said.

At his single-storey house, an eerie silence prevailed with tension hanging in the air as distressed family members hesitatingly answered queries from the visitors. Their small ancestral house paints a picture of financial distress as jaded walls and peeled off distemper show cracks widening gradually. An empty cot awaits for the family's son in the verrandah. A small mound of gunny bags filled with grains is all that the family is left with now.

Outside, the streets bear an empty look, with an occasional visitor passing by even as neighbouring houses eke out their existence in a cramped space.

Locals hinted that Pardeep had gone abroad with the help of a local contact who had facilitated his journey. He had reached US recently after travelling through various countries but was apprehended after crossing over the US border.

The family sought a loan waiver and a job for Pardeep from the state government.

Dera Bassi SDM Amit Gupta said, “We have received details of a person who has been deported as he was an illegal immigrant. His family has been intimated. Further instructions are awaited in the case.”