Stranded Indians seek safe passage back

Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said the state government had requested the Prime Minister to arrange for evacuating the people of Punjab stuck in Libya and New Zealand.

Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said the state government had requested the Prime Minister to arrange for evacuating the people of Punjab stuck in Libya and New Zealand.

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While Libya is seeing pro-democracy movements and violent attempts at to suppress them, an earthquake in New Zealand has reportedly left 400 people dead or missing.

Meanwhile, a group of 17 Indian workers, mostly from Punjab, stranded after being allegedly duped by a construction company, has urged the ministry of overseas Indian affairs to arrange for their safe passage.

Speaking to HT on phone from Libya, Raj Kumar, a carpenter from Kabulpur village, near here, said that rioters had attacked their residential camp in Graiyn, 100 km from Tripoli, last week and robbed them of all their belongings. “Later they set our camp on fire,” he added.

In Patna, Mohammed Badruzzaman Mallick, a civil engineer working on a project in Libya, last contacted home on February 20. All communication channels — Internet, Facebook, Twitter and even the telephone to a large extent — have snapped thereafter.

Inputs from Patna, Jalandhar, and Kotkapura