To bring home body of Indian, Govt will not pay $2000, A-I offers to fly it free

NEW DELHI, BAJRAWAR (HOSHIARPUR), APRIL 16: There is a flicker of hope for the family of Punjab immigrant Joginder Pal whose body has been lying in a Damascus morgue for three weeks for lack of funds to ship it home.

National carrier Air India has offered to fly the body free of cost to India after The Indian Express reported today how the Indian Embassy in Syria is seeking donations to raise $2000 for his passage home after his family in Hoshiarpur said they couldn’t afford to pay.

The Embassy, in fact, sent an email to local Indians asking them for donations despite the fact that it’s within the Ambassador’s discretionary powers to release an amount of $2000, officials said.

“It is a very sad case and as a national carrier we feel it is our responsibility to help in whatever way we can,” Jitendra Bhargava, Executive Director (Commercial), Air India, told The Indian Express. “We learnt that money is a factor in the way of transportation of the body and have offered to the Indian Embassy in Syria to fly the body back to India free of cost. We have offered that we can fly it from the nearest points in that sector from either Doha or Bahrain to Delhi and from there on to Chandigarh which is closer to his native village. We are awaiting the Embassy’s response on the issue.”

Tarsem Lal, who lost one leg in an accident, said: “I am a poor labourer who can’t work any longer. I want my brother’s last rites to be performed here in this village where he grew up but I have no money.”

Tarsem had last heard from Joginder in 2002. “I had great hopes from my brother when we sent him abroad in 1975. We begged and borrowed to raise Rs 5000 for his passage to Syria. He had studied till Class IX, I was confident that he would succeed,” said Tarsem.

Then working as a daily-wager in a factory near Patiala, Tarsem said he thought a brother abroad would mean an end to his poverty. But Joginder Pal never really flourished overseas. “Whenever he called me, he used to say he was sick but never told me about his ailment. The last time he called in 2002, he promised to visit India soon but that day never came. My mother died waiting for him,” says Tarsem.

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