Author: Our Staff Reporter
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 6, 2002
The Orissa unit of the Bharatiya
Janata Party has expressed displeasure over the deportation of Bangladeshi
infiltrators by the State Government. Nearly 3,000 infiltrators have been
identified in different districts and a batch of 21 has been deported.
The party's state executive committee
passed a resolution at the end of a two-day meeting here today demanding
that a high-level committee look into the issue before the Government went
ahead with the deportation.
Observing that the Government was
deporting Bangladeshi refugees treating them as infiltrators, the committee
suggested that there should be proper identification of refugees and infiltrators
living in the State. Briefing presspersons at the end of the meeting, the
vice-president of the State unit, Anadi Charan Sahu, said the State Government
had started the deportation in Nawrangpur and Malkangiri districts under
pressure from parties opposed to the BJP. The 800-odd families who had
been identified as illegal infiltrators were second generation refugees,
he said.
Mr. Sahu alleged that the authorities
had not initiated action against illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators who were
running small business in different towns.
The Government started deporting
the Bangladeshis from Nawrangpur even though it was opposed by several
BJP Ministers in the State, Mr. Sahu said, while adding that the Union
Home Minister, L.K. Advani, had been apprised of the issue.
The State Government had earlier
said that infiltration posed a potential security threat and decided to
deport the infiltrators in batches of 25 persons each. The deportation
process will continue till all the infiltrators were sent back, the Home
Secretary, T.K. Mishra, had said.
The Government had also clarified
that the present deportation drive would not be restricted to Nawrangpur
district. The next phase would be carried out in Malkangiri and Kendrapara
districts. Mr. Sahu said his party was not satisfied with the performance
of the coalition Government headed by Naveen Patnaik. However, the BJP
was compromising on several issues and was making efforts to improve the
Government's performance.
