In Lakhan Kalan village, 57% of families are without their male members, whereas in nearby Rurka Kalan village, 48% families have their male members abroad.
CHANDIGARH: Rakesh Kumar, whose father Harmesh Lal from Rurka Kalan village in Jalandhar district has been in Kuwait for the past 18 years, was arrested last week on charges of drug peddling. A tenth class drop-out, he has been doing drugs for a long time.
Moving around in his village on a swanky bike, he had become a supplier of contraband material to his friends and others in the area.
In Lakhan Kalan village, Jasbir Kaur, wife of one Ranjot Singh, who has been in Dubai for the past 21 years, is entangled in a legal tussle over the property her husband had purchased seven years back, but has since been allegedly grabbed by a local politician.
The lure of money among NRIs has started begetting peculiar problems for their families back home.
As they are unable to attend to their kin for years, their families are fast falling apart.
In Lakhan Kalan village, 57 per cent of families have been without their male members, whereas in nearby Rurka Kalan village, 48 per cent families have their male members abroad.
"With wives and kids fending for themselves alone for years together, the concomitant problems have been assuming a serious form," said Satnam Chana, secretary, the Punjab NRI Sabha.
The problems have been peculiar to families whose male members have gone to Gulf or the Middle East, where the law prohibits them from bringing families.Contrary to countries like Canada, UK and other European nations, where NRIs can bring their families after a period of time, the situation in the Gulf countries is far too complicated, Chana said.
With the men away, the families are plagued with a labyrinth of problems. "In many cases, the women get into immoral activities and the children go astray, indulging in anti-social activities," he added.
Gurdip Singh, sarpanch of Lakhan Kalan village, said since money comes to the NRI families easily, the children flaunt it by doing drugs and even spoil others in their age group.
The women lead an isolated life which affects them psychologically. Highlighting the problems in a paper submitted to the ILO, Chana said the Gulf countries should amend their laws to prevent the workers from veering into unhealthy practises.
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