By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

SURREY – Bring Canadians Home (BCH) group which has been involved in efforts to bring thousands of stranded Canadians home but has faced criticism about their motivation, some critics said it was all about making money with fares as high as $3000 or higher.

While money-making from such a venture isn’t a crime but BCH spokesperson Jeena Takhar answered DESIBUZZCanada’s questions regarding the criticism and people involved. Here is what she wrote back to our questions.

DESIBUZZCanada: How much is your Group charging for tickets and where are you buying them from and how much?

Jeena Takhar: The pricing was calculated by the chartering company for us with 80% full capacity. If the flights were 100% full then the excess funds would go back to the passengers. The people involved in this were strictly volunteers and had no other hidden intentions. None of the volunteers in Canada or India were taking any funds from the ticket money, rather we had all decided to sponsor some people that could not afford their tickets but needed to come back. The charges were $2725 for Toronto and $2850 for Vancouver; these charges included all taxes and ground transportation from a major city to Amritsar airport.

BBC: Who is Newton Sidhu and what is his role in Punjab?

JT: Newton Sidhu owns a canine breeding and training Institute near Chandigarh it is called Punjab home guards breeding and training institute. He breeds/trains dogs for the state police departments and the para military forces in India, my husband is his master trainer and is working in India on a work permit.

BBC: Why did you group partner with the Surrey Gurdwara? (Note: According to our sources - India was notified about the Surrey Gurdwara allegedly being Khalistani and that is why your private booking of planes was shut down)

JT: We sought the Gurdwaras assistance for three reasons A. We were told the tickets needed to be sold in Canada so that passengers were protected under consumer protection.B. The gurdwara is a public nonprofit society and we as volunteers felt that the funds needed to be in a safe place.C. If we used a ticketing agent each passenger would be paying approximately 5 to 10% surcharge and we felt due to the financial constraints people were already feeling and COVID-19 crisis if we could save them this then why not.

BBC: The government officials have told us that only they can organize the flights as based on  permission from India and the tickets are by lottery as first come - first serve and they cannot be booked by individuals through private organizations. What do you say?

JT: The statement that only government can organize these chartered flights is incorrect as the Canadian high commission had to provide a note verbale to MEA in India as these were chartered flights to bring back Canadian residences please note we were given approval which was later revoked for reasons that we have not been notified of to date. I would also like to inform you that MP Tim Uppal today (Thursday) on KRPI radio 1550 with Harjit Gill had given a reason that Canadian high commission had stated in a conference call on April 21, 2020. You are most welcome to talk to Tim Uppal as to what this reason is. We as volunteers were not notified of this reason by Nadir Patel Canadian high commission in India. I hope that this will shed some light for you and provide some clarity to the complaint you received. Should you require any further clarification please do not hesitate to email me and I will be more than happy to provide you with more clearance to this matter.