The Odisha police moved more than 400 people into holding centres this week amid a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants. Document verification is currently underway for 444 suspected Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants who have been detained since Monday night. The development also came mere days after neighbouring West Bengal accused the state of detaining nearly 100 of its migrant workers on suspicion that they were Bangladeshis.
According to a New Indian Express report, the detained individuals are employed in various industries, work within mines, and are also engaged as masons and house painters. Jharsuguda SP Smit Parmar said a special task force had been formed on the basis of Home Ministry guidelines for the crackdown. Two holding centres have been set up to facilitate the veirification process — one at the Black Diamond College of Engineering and Technology in Jharsuguda and another at Surabhi Kalyan Mandap in Brajrajnagar.
Odisha vs West Bengal?
The state has led an extensive crackdown against “illegal immigrants” since May — sparking discord with neighbouring West Bengal. TMP MP Samirul Islam recently revealed that “top administrative officials and police officers” had reached out to their Odisha counterparts under instructions from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. West Bengal alleges that nearly a hundred of its migrant workers have been “unconstitutionally” detained by Odisha over the past few weeks.
“They are Indian citizens and residents of Bengal. They have gone to Odisha for work. But they have been detained and labelled Bangladeshis. They have been sent to the detention centre. We will bring them home,” he said last week.
The developments in Odisha also come soon after seven people — including four youths and a couple from West Bengal — were brought back to India following the intervention of the TMC government. They had been picked up by the Maharashtra Police and subsequently pushed into Bangladesh.