A zonal meeting organised to address the issues and concerns of the NRI community has proved to be little more than an eyewash and has failed to provide meaningful relief to members of the Punjabi diaspora, particularly those who travel long distances with genuine grievances and return home empty-handed. This was stated by Satnam Singh Chahal, Executive Director of the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), in a press statement issued here today.Sharing his own experience of attending an NRI Milni, Chahal said that he himself had been a victim of alleged police inaction in Punjab. He said he had approached the then NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, and his complaint was registered with the NRI Sabha. The minister, he added, had assured him that his matter would be taken up on a priority basis.
“Despite my good relations with the minister and repeated assurances, nothing meaningful was done on my complaint. I was repeatedly asked to wait a few more days, but the promised action never materialised,” Chahal said. Chahal said that the experience made him realise that merely organising meetings, listening to grievances and making assurances could not be described as providing justice to NRIs. “I understood that there was little substance behind the assurances. Ultimately, when the NRI Department failed to resolve my grievance, I was compelled to knock on the doors of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where I finally received justice,” he said.“If the NRI Department itself is unable to deliver justice to an NRI who approaches it with a genuine complaint, then who will? The purpose of an NRI Milni should not be limited to listening to grievances and making promises. The real test is whether the complainant receives justice after the meeting,” Chahal added.
Referring to the recent Zonal NRI Milni in Bathinda, Chahal said that the event provided NRIs with a platform to raise a range of grievances, including allegations of police inaction and immigration fraud. However, he questioned whether such platforms were actually resulting in concrete action and resolution of complaints.During the Bathinda meeting, Gurdev Singh, a resident of Mansa who said he was settled in Ontario, reportedly raised allegations of police inaction concerning a case involving the alleged suicides of two of his relatives. He initially approached the minister on the stage. During the interaction, he displayed documents relating to his complaint before the gathering and later came down to speak to the media.
Chahal said such incidents demonstrate the gap between the government’s stated commitment to addressing NRI grievances and the actual experience of complainants. “An NRI who spends time and money travelling to an official meeting should not have to return with another assurance to wait indefinitely. There must be a mechanism to ensure that every genuine complaint reaches a logical conclusion,” he said.He further pointed to the larger issue of complaints relating to immigration fraud and emigration-related offences. According to figures cited in the discussion, Punjab accounted for 154 complaints out of 291 complaints recorded across Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh over the three-year period—roughly 53 per cent of the total.
Chahal said the figures should concern the Punjab government because Punjab’s share of the complaints is disproportionately high. “When more than half of the complaints from the entire region are connected to Punjab, the government cannot treat the matter as routine. It demands a dedicated institutional response, effective investigation and timely prosecution,” he said.He also questioned the apparent lack of prosecution sanctions under the Emigration Act during the period from 2023 to 2025. “The situation sounds almost like political satire: the complaint box keeps getting heavier, while the prosecution file appears to remain on a diet. If complaints are being received but prosecutions are not moving forward, the government must explain where the system is failing,” Chahal said.
The NAPA Executive Director said the Punjab government should establish a transparent, time-bound monitoring mechanism for NRI complaints, particularly those involving alleged police inaction, property disputes, cheating, immigration fraud and other serious grievances.“NRIs are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the same justice, protection and accountability that every citizen deserves. An NRI Milni should be judged by the number of grievances actually resolved—not by the number of grievances heard from the stage,” Chahal said.
He urged the Punjab government to publish a district-wise and case-wise status of complaints received at NRI Milnis, including the action taken, department responsible, investigation status and final outcome. Such transparency, he said, would restore confidence among Punjabis living abroad and demonstrate that the government’s outreach programmes are more than ceremonial exercises.“Punjab’s diaspora has contributed enormously to the state’s economy and society. Their concerns deserve seriousness, accountability and results. Meetings without follow-up are not solutions; they are merely another round of assurances,” Chahal concluded.