4 deportees hailing from Punjab arrive in Amritsar
Amritsar, Feb 23 (PTI): Four more deportees, hailing from Punjab, arrived here on Sunday. It is learnt that the four were among the 12 illegal Indian immigrants brought back from the US on a flight via Panama that landed in Delhi earlier in the day.
Confirming their arrival, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said they hailed from Gurdaspur, Patiala and Jalandhar districts.
They arrived at the Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport here from Delhi via a commercial flight, she added.
Sources said Harpreet Singh and Maninder Dutt were from Gurdaspur, Jugraj Singh hailed from Jalandhar and Jatinder Singh was from Nabha in Patiala district.
Earlier, three batches of illegal Indian immigrants were brought back from the US in a military aircraft on February 5, 15 and 16 amid a crackdown by the Donald Trump government against illegal immigrants.
Many people from Punjab and other states, who entered the US through "donkey routes" -- an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter America or other illegal means by spending lakhs of rupees -- are now facing deportation.
The landing of US military aircraft carrying illegal Indian immigrants at the Amritsar airport had triggered sharp reactions from several political leaders in Punjab.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had questioned the Centre's move to land planes bringing deportees at Amritsar airport, accusing it of trying to defame Punjab under a conspiracy.
Mann had even asked the central government not to make the holy city a "deport centre". He had also said that deportation was a national problem, but it was being made to appear that only Punjabis migrate illegally.
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Nitish Kumar's son Nishant among 32 to take oath as Bihar ministers
Patna (PTI): In a major expansion of the Cabinet of Bihar's first BJP-led government, JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar and 31 others took oath as ministers on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Altogether 32 leaders, drawn from all constituents of the five-party NDA in the state, were administered the oath of office by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain at a grand ceremony that was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister J P Nadda and BJP president Nitin Nabin.
Prominent inductees included Nishant Kumar, the son of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, who stepped down as chief minister last month to enter the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP, which is the single largest party in the 243-member assembly with 89 MLAs, has 15 ministers, who took oath on Thursday.
Most of the inductees were those who were part of the Nitish Kumar cabinet formed in November last year after the NDA stormed back to power in the assembly polls.
The JD(U) is represented by a total of 15 ministers, 13 of whom took the oath at the Gandhi Maidan on Thursday. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav had taken oath in April along with Samrat Choudhary and were designated as deputy chief ministers.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan, both from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, are back as ministers, and so are Santosh Kumar Suman and Deepak Prakash, sons of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, respectively.
