NRI ‘black list’ needs review: Punjab minister

CHANDIGARH - The “black list” of Non-Resident Indians (NRI) needs to be reviewed to help people of Indian origin settled abroad come to India freely, a senior Punjab minister said Monday.

Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur supported the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), which has asked the central government to review the black-list, which bars certain individuals from entering India for their involvement with terror elements or for anti-national activities.

Kaur told an NAPA delegation: The time has come that union government should review the blacklist because after the restoration of peace in the state, these citizens should be given opportunity to return home and become partners in the state’s progress.

NAPA president Satnam Singh Chahal urged the Punjab government to take up the issues of NRIs with central government, including the Indian missions and embassies abroad.

Chahal said that NRIs are generally subjected to humiliation at the hands of the Indian embassy staff. He alleged that the family members of those who got US citizenship on the basis of political asylum are being discriminated by refusal of visa.

“Those born and brought up in the US are also being denied visa for various reasons, he added.

Over one lakh PIOs (persons of Indian origin) were deprived of the opportunity to visit India through flimsy excuses, Chahal observed.

The minister assured the delegation that the Punjab government will soon constitute a board for NRIs to provide fast relief to their disputes, especially in the matter of property, marital and immigration.

Kaur said that the NRIs have immense potential to invest in Punjab and become partners in the state’s development.

She added that the Punjab government had already ordered comprehensive census of NRIs in Punjab so that schemes for their welfare could be initiated in a well-coordinated manner.