Different states have started identifying Bangladeshis that remain illegal in different parts, as part of an exercise to deport the immigrants.
In Odisha, Minister of Justice Prithiviraj HariCandan said on Monday that the state government has given all district collectors, security agencies on the coast and formed a special Task Force (STF) to coordinate the process of identifying the non -documented Bangladeshi -immigrants.
“The government has taken a difficult position. No foreign national without a valid legal status may remain in Odisha. The identification process has already begun and will be carefully executed in all districts,” said Harichandan.
He said that provisional discussions with different government branches and agencies such as those with migrant workers have been asked to verify their identity and nationalities.
“Various technical departments of the state government have been asked not to involve Bangladesh or strange subjects without valid documents,” he said.
The state government has designated the STF as the Knooppuntbureau to coordinate and control developments, in addition to working with officers at district level, coastal safety troops and other enforcement units.
The districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam have been identified as possible areas with illegal migrants.
STF director -general Pinak Mishra said that after the identification process has been completed, the government will initiate legal proceedings in the context of foreigners ACT and other relevant laws to deport the illegal migrants.
“Because Odisha shares his border with West Bengal, which borders Bangladesh, we hold a strict wake because there is any possibility to be infiltration, whether it is by waterways or weighs,” he said.
The government of Maharashtra also performs a similar exercise with the Mumbai police and says that 300 illegal Bengals has been deported to date. The police said that 766 such illegal immigrants have been arrested this year this year.
Eighteen Lakh ration cards were canceled until May 18, said civil servants, adding that most holders were probably illegal Bangladeshi residents. 4.8 Lakh ration cards were canceled in Mumbai.
“Our government will not do such a family injustice … Our government will not do any injustice except Bengalian infiltrators. Action will be taken against those who are eligible for action, the general public will not be harassed,” said Cabinet Sminister Chandrashhekhar Bawankule.
Saiddul Sheikh, who says he comes from West Bengal, agrees that the police should fight in illegal access from Bangladeshis and those who make fake documents, but not target workers as he came from the eastern state to earn a living. He said he also made several rounds of the police station for verification.
India has adopted a new “push back” strategy to tackle infiltration from Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters earlier this month. He said that the center has deported illegal immigrants, including Rohingyas, from different parts of the country, including from the Matia Detention Center in Goalpara – one of the largest facilities in the country with illegal immigrants.
By calling cross -border infiltration a “big problem”, Mr. Sarma said it will be minimized because of the new “Push Back” phenomenon. “We previously arrested use of 1,000-1,500 foreigners. We always arrested them, and they would be sent to prisons, and then they would be produced before a court. Now we have decided that we will not bring them into our country and push them back,” he said.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma had commissioned the police on 30 April to launch a campaign against illegal Bangladeshi and to guarantee their deportation.
Subsequently, a first party of 148 illegal Bengalian immigrants completed by the police was sent to West Bengal on a special flight, as part of the deportation process, according to police sources.
“These infiltrators were stored in one of the two detention centers set up in Jaipur. In the first phase of their deportation, 148 were sent to Jodhpur and sent to West Bengal for the final deportation,” one of them said.
The source added that 1,008 “infiltrators” were held in the exercise so far in 17 districts of the state.
(With inputs by Puja Bhardwj, Dev Kumar Ghosh)
