State ropes in developers to weed out illegal Bangladeshis

Mumbai: Developers and contractors in Mumbai are being made to submit undertakings saying they do not employ any illegal Bangladeshis in their projects, minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam said in the legislative assembly on Tuesday while speaking about efforts to weed out illegal foreigners living in the state.

Responding to a calling attention motion raised by Mumbai legislators from the treasury benches, Kadam said, “The Mumbai guardian minister recently held a meeting with the police, following which the government has started collecting the undertakings from developers and contractors.”

He said 2,935 illegal Bangladeshis had been arrested in the state since January 2023, among whom 587 had been deported back to the neighbouring country.

“We booked 192 illegal Bangladeshis in 2021, 217 in 2022, 573 in 2023, 716 in 2024 and 595 till March 17 this year from across the state barring Mumbai. Among them, 109 were deported in 2021, 77 in 2022, 127 in 2023, 202 in 2024 and 17 this year,” said Kadam. In Mumbai, 375 illegal Bangladeshis were arrested and 65 deported in 2023, 307 arrested and 156 deported in 2024, and 369 arrested and 156 deported till February 28 this year, he added.

Kadam spoke after MLAs from the treasury benches raised the issue of intrusion of illegal Bangladeshis in Mumbai and other parts of the state. Dahisar’s BJP MLA Manisha Chaudhari said online food delivery platforms routinely employed illegal Bangladeshis, while many hutments in slums were rented out to them without any police verification. Kandivali East BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar said the police should launch combing operations instead of waiting for complaints against intruders while Borivali MLA Sanjay Upadhyay, also from the BJP, said that over 5,000 illegal Bangladeshis were employed by contractors of various infrastructure projects.

In response, Kadam said that police had been taking suo motu action on the basis of tip-offs and information, inputs from the ministry of home affairs and the Intelligence Bureau. The Mumbai guardian minister had recently held a meeting with police officers, he said, following which the government had started collecting undertakings from developers and contractors.

Kadam stated that while intruders cannot be deported unless they are convicted, securing their conviction becomes difficult owing to lack of cooperation from the West Bengal government.

“99% of the documents they (illegal Bangladeshis) possess are issued by the West Bengal government. We are writing to the central government for their intervention for strict action against these accused and for amendment in the Indian Passport Act and Foreigners Act to make provisions related to the deportation of illegal foreigners living in the state more stringent,” said Kadam.

The minister of state for home mentioned that a detention centre which can accommodate 213 persons was being constructed in Navi Mumbai, whereas a temporary detention centre with a capacity of 80 would become operational in central Mumbai within two months.