Iraq killings: Mortal remains arrive at Amritsar airport on Monday

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said government should provide ₹1-crore compensation each to the families of Punjab natives killed in Iraq

Mortal remains of 39 Indian workers killed in Mosul city of Iraq will land at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport in the city on Monday about 1.30pm, Amritsar deputy commissioner Kamaldeep Singh Sandha said on Saturday. He added that the remains will arrive by a special plane.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and ministers of state for external affairs MJ Akbar and Gen VK Singh with the family members of the 39 Indian men who went missing in Iraq in 2014. (PTI File)

“After the Centre informed me, I took a meeting of the customs department, the police, the airport authority, the CISF and the immigration bureau to make arrangements,” the DC said. He added that security had been beefed up around the airport and duties had been assigned to staff to ensure the kin faced no problem. Of the 39 people killed, 27 were from Punjab; four from Himachal; two from West Bengal and the remaining are from Bihar.

Khaira demands ₹1 crore compensation

Meanwhile in Kapurthala, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and the leader of opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Singh Khaira met family members of one of the deceased Gobinder Singh of Murar village on Saturday and said the government should provide ₹1-crore compensation each to the families of Punjab natives killed in Iraq.

The sole breadwinner of the family, Gobinder went to work in a construction company in Iraq in 2013 to shore up his domestic finances after taking a loan of ₹1.5 lakh.