49 Bangladeshis deported, says CM

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has identified 51 Bangladeshi infiltrators in various districts since the BJP came to power in the State, and 49 of them have been deported, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi told the Assembly on Monday.

In a written reply to BJD legislator Goutam Buddha Das, Majhi said, “Since the new government came to power, a total of 51 Bangladeshis have been identified in various districts of the State.” The BJP government led by Majhi assumed office on June 12, 2024.

Out of the identified infiltrators, 49 were repatriated, while cases were registered against two others — one in Ganjam and another in Kandhamal — for obtaining Indian passports using fake documents, and they were sent to judicial custody, the Chief Minister added.

According to Majhi’s statement, 24 Bangladeshi infiltrators from Urban Police District (UPD)-Bhubaneswar in Khurda district, 15 from UPD-Cuttack, six from Ganjam district, three from Kandhamal and one from Koraput district were deported following a legal process.

In another statement to the Assembly, Majhi said his government has formed a Special Task Force (STF) to identify, detain and deport illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, following the instructions from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). All the superintendents of police are working as per the MHA instruction, he added.

Two State-level and 18 district-level holding centres have also been established to keep identified Bangladeshi infiltrators until their deportation, Majhi said. So far, the State has examined 1,768 suspected immigrants, of whom 1,667 Indians were released after verification of their documents, while 51 were confirmed as Bangladeshi infiltrators, he added.

Document verification for another 50 suspects is still underway to confirm their domicile status, the Chief Minister said. The superintendents of police and nodal agency officers are being regularly instructed to identify the Bangladeshi infiltrators and to take strong action against them, Majhi said in his written statement.

Apart from the STF, officers of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and district-level special units are also engaged to detect the Bangladeshi infiltrators. The Chief Minister said that the detection and deportation drive has been intensified through coordination with the Border Security Force (BSF), intelligence agencyof West Bengal, Central IB, and the MHA.