HVK Archives: Mumbai now a haven for illegal immigrants
Mumbai now a haven for illegal immigrants - Free Press Journal
Jitendra Satpute
()
31 Mar 1997
Title : Mumbai now a haven for illegal immigrants
Author : Jitendra Satpute
Publication : Free Press Journal
Date : Mar 31, 1997
THE city has become a free-for-all haven for illegal immigrants
coming from neighbouring countries into India.
Influx of Bangladeshi immigrants as well as others coming into
Mumbai is on the rise (if unofficial figures are to be accepted)
because of "politicising of the issue by individuals as well as
some groups to get political as well as pecuniary mileage out of
it." The immigrants, mainly, Bangladeshis, come to Mumbai because
of the deplorable situation in their respective countries. The
Real purpose of the immigrants is to earn a livelihood and rarely
is any criminal motive detected, police maintain.
The police started deportation of Bangladeshi immigrants in 1982
and Pakistanis much earlier. But the problem has still not been
brought under control, in fact it has aggravated, said one senior
police officer on condition of anonymity. He further added that in
1996 a record number of 777 Bangladeshis were deported. It is very
difficult to guess at the actual number of immigrants presently
staying in Mumbai, but it is many times more than the figure of
deported persons, he asserted. The illegal immigrants,
particularly, stay in pockets of south-central Mumbai and other
slums doing menial jobs.
The procedure of deporting illegal immigrants has flaws be cause of
which the deported person comes back to the place from where he was
deported. The 'push-out operation' involves handing over the
deportees to the Border Security Force (BSF) at the Indian border.
Subsequently, the BSF push the deportees across the border to
which the illegal immigrant belongs. Rarely, imniigrants are
pushed by flight.
But because the deportees are 'pushed, and not 'handed over'
officially, the chances of their coming back increase. Only
children are officially handed over by the Embassy officials. Last
fortnight, the police deported at least 15 persons out of which
two, Yusuf Rustam Shaikh (25) and Hakim Javed Gazy (3 1) admitted
to have been deported previously on January 16, '97 and February 2,
'97 respectively.
Nearly, 5678 Bangladeshi and 1504 Pakistanis have been deported
from 1980 onwards. But this is only the tip of the iceberg because
neither the police nor any other agency can keep a tab on the
actual figures of illegal immigrants coming into Mumbai city.
Maximum inflow of illegal immigrants affects the States in the
North-East and cities like Calcutta, Delhi and Lucknow.
The issue of illegal immigrants has affected almost every country
in the world. Nevertheless, there is an attempt in these countries
to defeat this exigency by making new laws, border security is
tightened and borders sealed, process of identifying and
deportation illegal immigrants is made expeditious.
But in India it is diametrically opposite. When Maharashtra
Government takes a firm stand over the illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants issue, the West Bengal government protests vehemently,
insisting that these so called illegal immigrants are "people from
W Bengal and not Bangladeshi's."
Likewise, if the police become aggressive on this issue, local
supporters like Advocate Abdullah Sahabad of Cong-I from Dongri
area launches a tirade against t he police in favour of the illegal
immigrants, it is reliably learnt. The immigrants are supported by
vested interest groups for getting votes at the time of elections
by registering them illegally and while doing this some monetary
gain also accrues. The enormous harm done to the city by way of
putting pressure on the already overburdened infrastructure by
demands of these new immigrants including for food, shelter,
employment are ignored for these short term political gains.
As a direct consequence of the outburst of these sordid groups and
individuals, the police are forced to curtail the number of raids.
An inquiry instituted against the accused officer on charges of
being biased towards a specific community, harassment by raiding in
the night, etc. also slows down the pace of detecting the illegal
immigrants.
The police identify illegal immigrants through various means such
as civil and police informers, complaints submitted to the police
because of enmity with the immigrants and also sporadic checks by
officials of the Foreigner's Registration Cell.
In the North-Eastern states the problem of illegal immigrants had
gone out-of-hand and disrupted normal life because of the callous
attitude of the politicians and administration. They are still not
making any effort to seal the approx. 4000 kms open borders. As a
result, other Indian states and cities have to suffer from the
presence of these illegal immigrants.
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