8 Indian workers return from Najaf in Iraq

Jalandhar, Jun 25: Eight Indian nationals hailing from Punjab who were working in Najaf town of Iraq on day returned.

The returnees, who were employed with a company in Najaf, said they had first reached Dubai from Iraq and from there had taken a flight to Ahmedabad.

But, running short of money after landing in India, the group had to complete the rest of the journey from Gujarat to Punjab by train. Three persons from Jalandhar district are part of the group which was welcomed, among others, by district and police officials as it arrived here.

According to Kamaldeep, one of the members of the group, they had gone to Najaf some three months back to work for the company in Najaf.

"The company had collected our passports when we joined work. When the fighting erupted, we asked for our passports to be returned to us so that we could leave Iraq," said Kamaldeep.

He claimed that to return their passports, the company had asked them to pay USD 400 each, which the workers had arranged with the help of their families back home in India.

Along with Kamaldeep, the other members of the group hailing from Jalandhar district were identified as Jagpreet and Kuldeep.

The remaining returnees are Vinod Kumar from Phagwara, Manjeet Singh and Mandeep Singh from Hoshiarpur, Baldev Singh from Batala, and Balwinder Singh from Gurdaspur.

PTI