Punjab State Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal met with the family members of Gurpreet Singh, who wanted to go to America via the 'Dunki' route and died on the way at Guatemala of heart attack.
Mr Dhaliwal met the mourning family and told ANI that he will appeal to people to not go to any other country illegally.
"We have a lot of youth here. In the last two or three months, we have been struggling with the situation in America. The deceased had reached Guatemala. They were trying to reach the US through 'dunki' route. There he died with a heart attack," Mr Dhaliwal said.
"This is a request that no one should go illegally," he said
Mr Dhaliwal added that he has initiated a process to retrieve the body of the man who died.
"The deceased man, who was 33-year-old, was trying to go to America, through different countries. Their parents were also upset. They demand that they should be given their dead bodies. We have already started a process from our department in Punjab to get the dead body. But I request all the Punjab's parents and all the young people to not go anywhere through illegal way," the Punjab minister said.
"But this is an illegal way. The way of the donkey route is illegal. Look, how much damage has been done. They told us that they have lost Rs 36 lakh. So, this is the damage that is being done. And whoever wants to go, go legally. Going through illegal dunki, this is very sad," he said.
Gurpreet's brother, Tara Singh, told ANI that his brother had the 'American dream', for which he left three months back.
"My younger brother Gurpreet Singh, who had gone to America three months ago. He talked to a Chandigarh agent Balwinder Singh. He made a deal worth Rs 16.5 lakhs. He had sent my brother to Guyana. After that, there was a Pakistani agent named Mohammed. We found out that he was Pakistani only after his death. He spoke to him himself. He took the road to Colombia through the jungle of Panama. He had already taken the payment of 18-20 lakhs from the Pakistani Agency. He said he would take first payment and then take him by air. But he didn't, and instead took him by foot. He said they would leave in the jungle in about 25 hours. In Guatemala, they met with other people who were staying at the hotel. One of them called us and told us that he was dying. He sat in the car and said that he was having a breathing problem. In 5-7 minutes he said that he was attacked and he died," he said.
Singh said that it was his message to not repeat the same mistake his brother made.
"I will give a message, don't make such a mistake like my brother did. We had stopped him a lot, but he had only one thought in his mind that I have to go to America," he said.
He also said that he requested the government to bring his brother's remains back.
"I just want to get my brother's mortal remains back from the government," he said.
Gurpreet's brother also said that agents who promise to take people by air, but don't, must be penalized.
"Agents who take people illegally, should be held. They take the payment first, then the agent doesn't listen. They take them in their own way. Sometimes they put them in the chicken cart and take them. Sometimes they take them in the water tanker. I don't know anything. Instead of spending so much money, work here. It will be good," he said.
The news came as the US deported several Indian nationals who had allegedly migrated illegally to the United States. A US military C-17 Globemaster aircraft landed in Punjab's Amritsar on February 5 with 104 Indian nationals.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
