As hundreds of Punjabi migrant workers sleep on the hard floors of Dubai International Airport without food, money, or functioning phones, the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) has issued an urgent demand to both the Punjab state government and the Government of India to immediately establish a dedicated rehabilitation fund and mount an emergency relief operation.
The crisis, which has seen labourers, drivers, domestic workers, and small tradespeople stranded not only in Dubai but also in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Muscat, has drawn sharp condemnation from NAPA, which accused the Aam Aadmi Party government in Chandigarh of being “ paralysed, absent, and unresponsive” in the face of an unfolding humanitarian emergency.
“Punjab da putt Dubai vich mar reha hai — te sarkar so rahi hai.” (“Punjab’s son is dying in Dubai — and the government sleeps.)
NAPA painted a stark picture of the affected workers mothers who have not called home in days because their phones have died, fathers who left their villages to pay off debts and now cannot afford a meal, and young men and women who placed their trust in an employment system and a government that, NAPA argues, has failed them at the most critical moment. Many of the stranded individuals are believed to have been misled by fraudulent recruitment agents who promised legitimate overseas employment. With no immediate government help desk, no emergency contact number, and no financial lifeline in place, the workers have been left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.
In a strongly worded statement dated March 1, 2026, NAPA has called on Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to establish a Punjab Overseas Workers Rehabilitation Fund (POWRF) with an initial corpus of no less than Rs. 50 crore. The fund would provide emergency financial assistance, repatriation support, and post-return reintegration services to distressed Punjabi workers abroad.
Among the immediate measures demanded are a minimum emergency cash relief of Rs. 25,000 per stranded worker via direct bank transfer or Western Union, the activation of a 24-hour NRI emergency help desk staffed by Punjabi-speaking officers, and the immediate deployment of a Punjab government representative to Dubai to coordinate with the Indian Consulate General.
NAPA has also demanded that Chief Minister Mann personally issue a public statement to the workers and their families within 24 hours.
The association did not spare the central government either, directing formal demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. NAPA has called on the Ministry of External Affairs to activate the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) maintained at Indian missions across the Gulf, and to arrange emergency repatriation flights for those who wish to return.On a longer-term basis, NAPA is pressing for the creation of a permanent National NRI Distress and Rehabilitation Fund a centralised mechanism that would enable a faster response to future crises involving Indian workers abroad.
In its statement, NAPA framed government intervention not as charity but as an obligation. The association noted that Punjab’s overseas workers collectively remit billions of rupees annually, sustaining rural families, funding schools, and keeping the state’s economy afloat.
“When these same workers are stranded, exploited, cheated by fraudulent agents, or caught in crises beyond their control,” the statement read, “it is not charity to help them. It is a debt owed. It is a constitutional duty.”NAPA has set a 72-hour deadline for emergency financial transfers to begin and repatriation flights to be arranged, and a 30-day deadline for the formal constitution of the rehabilitation fund, the launch of a transparent relief portal, and the initiation of legal proceedings against fraudulent recruitment agencies.