Illegal immigrants Gurugram cops step up drive

 

 

ANJU Khatun, who says she is from West Bengal, was visibly terrified while recounting the ordeal she faced earlier this week while frantically searching for her husband at the holding centres set up by the Gurugram Police for illegal immigrants. She is not the only one. Several Bengali-speaking people are petrified by the police’s ongoing drive to identify illegal immigrants.

 

Many claim that the police were targeting Bengali-speaking people. According to police sources, under the drive, which has been going on for the past one week, more than 250 suspected people have been sent to the holding areas, where their documents were being verified. A senior police officer said a verification process was being conducted to identify illegal immigrants and dismissed reports that migrant workers from West Bengal and Assam were being targeted and detained. The drive has visibly affected sanitation works, with garbage piling up across the Millennium City. Most of the sanitation workers, who speak Bengali, have stopped showing up for work out of fear that they may be rounded up at the detention centre for domicile verification. 

 

 

 THE Meghalaya Government has asked all Deputy Commissioners in the State to remain alert and take necessary measures to prevent any possible influx of illegal immigrants, following eviction drives being carried out by neighbouring Assam Government, an official said on Thursday. The Meghalaya Government has asked all DCs to coordinate with police and border security agencies to monitor vulnerable border areas and prevent any unauthorised entry, the official said. The directive issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Shakil P Ahamed stated: “In view of the ongoing eviction drive against illegal immigrants undertaken by the Government of Assam and to prevent possible influx of the displaced individuals to the State as a consequence, all Deputy Commissioners are hereby directed to keep vigilant and take necessary measures to ensure the potential influx is kept in check and law and order is maintained.” Assam has recently intensified its eviction operations in districts such as Barpeta, Lakhimpur, Hojai and Nagaon, targeting people allegedly encroaching on Government and forest lands.