Recounting the horror, one of the victims Harwinder Singh of Tahli village in Hoshiarpur district said that he was first made to catch a flight to Qatar and then to Brazil. Contrary to the plan of being flown to Peru, he was taken to Panama by road and forced to take the donkey route.In almost all the cases, the immigrants would have either sold their land or took loans to pay fees ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore to travel agents. The trauma doesn’t end here as these agents extract much more money than promised.Another victim, Daler Singh of Salempura village in Amritsar said that he too was forced to endure the torture.An illusive dreamA recent Bollywood film ‘Dunki’ had depicted the details of ‘Dunki’ routes, reason why people embark on it and what they encounter in foreign countries. The promise of higher incomes, opportunities and improved living standards, encapsulated in the ‘American Dream’, fuels the desire to migrate.
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