IN Odisha, Names of Bangladeshis Are Being Struck Off Voters’ Lists
KEEPING in view Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha scheduled to be held with nationwide Parliamentary poll in March-April, electoral rolls are being revised as per the instruction of the Election Commission of India. The district administration in Kendrapara, near Cuttack, has started weeding out Bangladeshi infiltrators from the electorate list. The exercise will continue till September 27. In Kendrapara, as per informed sources, about 1,649 Bangladeshis have settled .Of them, 1,551 live in Mahakalpada Tehsils alone. Incidentally, Kendrapara District is situated in the eastern part of the state, and is bounded on the north by Bhadrak District, on the east by the
Bay of Bengal, on the south by Jagatsinghpur District, on the west by Cuttack District and on the northwest by Jajpur District.
Kendrapara district collector Dasarathi Satpathy said so far 137 Bangladeshis have been detected in the voters’ list in Mahakalpada tehsil. “After thorough verification of their nativity antecedents, these foreign nationals have been removed from voters list,” PTI quoted Satpathy as saying. He further said officials engaged in the exercise
In an attempt to curb the influx of illegal immigrants, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government has formed committees comprising revenue, police and forest officials to intensify vigil on infiltration. These panels have been working in cohesion in infiltration-affected Mahakalpada and Rajnagar Tehsils. As many as 3,987 Bangladeshis have been staying in Odisha illegally. Besides, Kendrapara, 1,112 Bangladeshi migrants reside in Paradip and Jagatsinghpur, officials said. Of the 3,987 infiltrators, 1,551 foreign nationals from 362 families living in Mahakalpada tehsil of Kendrapara district were served deportation notice in 2005. However, the deportation move has been kept on hold following intervention by the then Congress headed UPA at the centre.(image courtesy : The Indian Express)