Agent grabs family's 4.5-acre farmland worth Rs 1 crore

JALANDHAR: Kamalpreet Kaur had once dreamed of a better life. But she and her husband Daljit Singh now stand empty-handed - neither the dreams of America nor the 4.5-acre farmland they once tilled remains theirs. Daljit Singh was among the 116 Indians deported from US for entering and staying in the country illegally. He arrived in Amritsar on Saturday night in shackles. Yet, even heavier than the chains that bound him was the loss he carried in his heart.

Daljit had not flown to America but had been sent there through the perilous "donkey route" more than two-and-a-half years ago. Stuck in Mexico, he made a desperate call home. "Give them the power of attorney," he had told Kamalpreet. "Otherwise, they won't let me leave."

A demand wrapped in a threat, leaving them no choice but to surrender their 4.5 acres in Kurala Kalan village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district to the local travel agent who had promised Daljit a future abroad. The land, worth nearly Rs 1 crore, had slipped from their hands. "State govt should help us get our land back," Kamalpreet pleaded on Sunday.

Daljit's village was also home to Urmur MLA Jasvir Singh Gill. "Our top priority is to restore the land to Daljit's family," he said. "The agent from Chollaang village took advantage of their helplessness, transferring the land while Daljit was struggling in Mexico." The family's land - their only inheritance - was swallowed by deception and desperation. "That land was their livelihood, their past and future," said Jarnail Singh, the village sarpanch's husband.


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