Chandigarh, March 26 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said on Wednesday that the state government has taken stringent action against travel agents involved in sending youth abroad through illegal means.
A total of 127 cases have been registered, and action has been taken against 102 agents, with eight travel agents arrested.
The Chief Minister was speaking during the discussion on the Haryana Travel Agents Registration and Regulation Bill, 2025, presented during the Budget session in the Assembly here.
He said the Bill, which was later passed in the Assembly, aims to protect the youth from exploitation, ensuring transparency, accountability of travel agents, and the investigation and curbing of illegal activities.
The Chief Minister added that the state government’s intention “is clear that stringent action will be taken against travel agents who facilitate illegal migration”.
He said that with the introduction of three new criminal laws, some sections were revised.
“This Bill is now being reintroduced with strengthened provisions to safeguard the youth from exploitation,” he added, before tabling the Bill.
The Chief Minister highlighted that many youth used to sell their land to travel abroad and they were sent there in an unsafe manner.
“Once the Bill becomes law, the government becomes successful in curbing all such illegal practices,” he clarified.
The Chief Minister also told the House that the Bill includes provisions to combat human trafficking, with penalties of seven to 10 years of imprisonment for those found guilty.
He said that the state government has established a Foreign Cooperation Department to manage the process of sending youth abroad for business, education, or employment.
“The primary goal of this Bill is to ensure that all travel agents are registered, and that they operate under the new legal framework and the government can also have accurate information.”
CM Saini said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central government successfully brought back 23,000 youth stranded in Ukraine during their MBBS studies.
The Bill was passed to establish a framework for ensuring transparency, accountability, integrity of travel agents and to check and curb their illegal and fraudulent activities, safeguarding the interests of the residents of Haryana and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
It said it came to notice that innocent and unemployed youth of Haryana are being lured into the trap of illegal migration on a large scale through illegitimate means.
“Unscrupulous and unregistered travel agents deceive such persons by promising them easy and quick immigration to foreign countries. These agents promise to arrange work visa, work permit, and study visa through offer letters from universities and colleges in foreign countries, but in many cases, they fail to fulfill their promises,” it added.
“In many cases, these agents provide fake offer letters and sometimes even form fake or unrecognised universities or colleges. They charge excessive fees and demand huge amounts of money at different stages. Many times these agents send innocent people to foreign countries illegally and such people are caught by the police of those countries and put behind bars, therefore there is a dire need to curb the illegal activities of such travel agents,” it said.
–IANS
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