Take up with US freeze on truckers’ work visas, Harsimrat Badal urges Centre

Bathinda MP and SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to take up with the US government the issue of freeze on work visas of foreign truck drivers following a fatal crash involving a Punjabi trucker.

The MP also urged the minister to ensure counsellor access to Harjinder Singh, the accused trucker, who had been arrested on three counts of vehicular homicide, so that his case could be pleaded appropriately. She said it would have a “catastrophic effect on Punjabi families who were the backbone of the trucking business in the US”.

The Bathinda MP, who wrote to Jaishankar on the issue, said there was an apprehension that a number of Punjabis who were in the trucking industry might be forced to leave the US. “Punjabi and Sikh drivers make up 20 per cent per cent of the US’ trucking industry with around 1.5 lakh Sikh drivers engaging in trucking in the US. Any mass-level action against them would have a detrimental effect on trucking families and would be discriminatory in nature considering the fact that Punjabis have built and sustained trucking logistics and trucking networks over decades,” she said. Badal urged the minister to convey to the US government that the Punjabi community had played a vital role in meeting the high demand for drivers and alleviating the stress of driver shortages on American consumers.