Canada, (Samaj Weekly): In a letter to The Honorable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Canada, the FlyAmritsar Initiative has thanked the Canadian Government for making flight arrangements from Amritsar airport through a series of humanitarian evacuation flights for the Canadian citizens and their immediate permanent resident relatives stranded in Punjab. The Initiative is a non-government civil society advocacy campaign working on aviation related issues linked to Punjab with impetus on direct air connectivity of Amritsar with Canada.
In a joint press release, Anantdeep Singh Dhillon Convener (North America) Fly Amritsar Initiative & Sameep Singh Gumtala- Overseas Secretary for Amritsar Vikas Manch (NGO) informed that hundreds of Canadians stuck in Punjab have now been united with their families after returning to Canada on these flights from Amritsar via Delhi & London.
Dhillon said, according to the Canadian High Commission in India and Consulate General of Canada in Chandigarh, all the current and additional flights are being made available only to the Canadian citizens and their immediate family members who are permanent residents of Canada and who are traveling with them. Due to this situation, thousands of Permanent Resident & their families are feeling abandoned and let down by the authorities of the Nation they chose as their new home.
Since the numbers are huge, he said we can understand the decision taken by the Canadian Government to first accommodate Canadians falling in the citizenship category but at the same time we fervently appeal to the Government to further the logistic arrangements for a series of new humanitarian evacuation flights from Amritsar and other airports in India, to bring back these stranded permanent residents along with citizens of Canada. We are fully aware of the challenging circumstances that not all of them can be accommodated, we request the authorities through the diplomatic representatives in India to kindly focus on the repatriation of those dealing with severe medical and other emergency circumstances, said Dhillon.
Many of these permanent resident families have made Canada their home, made a permanent move by selling all their assets in India. They are direct contributors to the Canadian economy and pay taxes at par with the citizens. Many of them are feeling stigmatized because they as foreigners or Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are being accused of having imported the Corona virus into their home state and country.
Sameep Singh Gumtala, Global Convener of the Initiative said that since the lockdown, they are getting thousands of messages from all over the World including Canadians with many crying for help to guide and assist in getting them back. One of them includes mother of a child whose permanent resident child left for India with grandparents and is now stranded in India as parents were going to join after 3 days are still in Canada. Due to the lockdown curfew In India, this child is now stuck in Punjab. There are many other such cases including children that suffer from severe allergies and other health conditions.
The Initiative lauded the efforts of The Canadian Government, given a large number of people have to be flown back and thanked the leadership shown by Canadian Prime Minister and Minister Champagne along with the diplomatic representatives in India and that we are fully aware of the challenging circumstances that not all of them can be accommodated, but kindly request government to start rescue of those in need and stuck in emergent situation, said Gumtala.
