An ageing Harbans Kaur speaks for the entire village. Waving at the imposing building, constructed by the NRIs, she says, “Jo chale gaye unaada ei sab hai. Jo nahin gaye, unaada kala kuan (Those who went have all these. Those who did not have only a black well).”

Punjab’s flourishing immigration racket reflects a deeper socio-economic phenomenon where people are willing to cross multiple borders, hide in ships as stowaways, impersonate, apply for asylum or exhaust an entire life’s savings to get a passage abroad. Every major immigration and human trafficking scandal, like the Malta boat tragedy, the Daler Mehndi case, the ICCR case and now the MP immigration scam, exposes the lengths to which the enterprising Punjabi can go to leave Indian shores.

The newly appointed Punjab Police chief NPS Aulakh admits to difficulties in trying to bust the illegal immigration network. “How can you stop people from trying to go abroad? We are contemplating a series of actions and trying to cleanse the system. In my first meeting with the senior officers of all districts on Thursday, I also reviewed the cases booked against travel agents who run such rackets.”

Figures maintained by the Punjab Police of action taken against unscrupulous travel agents reveal just the tip of the iceberg as thousands of cases go undetected. They show that in 2005, 594 cases were registered resulting in the arrest of 655 travel agents. In 2006, 751 cases were filed, with 755 travel agents being booked. In the first three months of the current year, 159 cases have already been registered and 57 travel agents arrested.

... contd.