Rag-picking, begging at traffic signals, and working as manual labourers, mostly masons: these are some of the petty jobs that they took up for subsistence after arriving in Gujarat “for better livelihood opportunities”, the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants ‘in confinement’ following the demolitions at the Chandola Talav (lake) area in Ahmedabad this week have told the police as part of the ongoing investigation.
According to the Gujarat Police, however, the Chandola lake area, where most of the immigrants resided in encroachments, had become a hub of criminal activities “such as large-scale prostitution, including coercing minors into prostitution, drug trade, money laundering, forgery of identification documents”.
An affidavit filed before the Gujarat High Court earlier this week, challenging the residents’ petition to stay the demolitions, signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ajit Rajiaan, stated, “Over time, the lake came to be used for a variety of illegalities, including harbouring Bangladeshi aliens and other anti-national elements…It is also stated for the record that, recently, four Bangladeshi immigrants belonging to an al-Qaeda module having links to Chandola Lake were also arrested.”
The affidavit follows a police crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi nationals in the state following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, in which 26 tourists, including three Gujaratis, were killed.
On Thursday night, the Vadodara district police placed 30 alleged Bangladeshi nationals ‘in confinement’ from Bhoj village in Padra taluka, where 29 of them had taken shelter in the house of a relative, after escaping the police crackdown in the Chandola lake area. One of them, a woman immigrant from Bangladesh, had been living in Bhoj following her marriage to a local.
Vadodara District Superintendent of Police (SP) Rohan Anand told The Indian Express, “A total of six men, nine women and 15 children were detained from Bhoj, and we have restricted their movement to initiate the process of deportation, after confirming their nationality. They were escaping from Chandola and landed in Bhoj as the Bangladeshi woman married to the local Indian national was a relative. Apart from them, two days ago, we also found two Bangladeshi women in Karjan taluka. So, a total of 32 identified Bangladeshi nationals have been found in Vadodara rural police jurisdiction.”
The joint interrogation of the alleged Bangladeshi nationals, however, has revealed that most of them subsisted on petty jobs and continued to “remain entangled in the vicious cycle of debt and owing money to their agents”.
Story continues below this ad
A senior police officer, who is part of the joint interrogation of the Bangladeshi nationals, told The Indian Express, “They have immigration agents, mostly located in West Bengal, who are connected with some local manpower agents in Gujarat. These agents send these Bangladeshis to Gujarat, relying on the local agents to facilitate their stay and eventually also acquire a few fake identity cards of Indian nationality. But, since the agents charge a hefty commission, many of those detained so far have confessed that a big share of their meagre earnings go towards paying the agents, and it is a vicious cycle of debt…”.
“While rag picking and garbage collection were among the most common works they have been engaged in to survive, one of the confirmed Bangladeshis from Surat was part of a begging network and even said that his agent would keep the money he earned from begging to clear his outstanding debt,” the officer added.
SP Anand said that the immigrants found in Vadodara district mostly worked as labourers involved in masonry work, as well as Plaster of Paris crafting. “We have learnt that they subsisted on petty jobs, particularly kadiya work (masonry) and POP… So far, we have not come across criminal activities that they could be involved in or victim of, in order to survive,” Anand said.
In some other areas of central Gujarat, senior police officers said that although the male illegal immigrants managed to find jobs as labourers, several women were allegedly forced to take up commercial sex work to support their families.
Story continues below this ad
A senior police official from the region said, “During the joint interrogation, the Bangladeshi women immigrants have admitted to soliciting sex work…they also become victims of immoral trafficking… Most of them have confessed that they arrived in Gujarat in search of livelihood opportunities, but their illegal immigrant status restricted them to petty jobs because of a lack of skill sets. Some women also took to working in spas and as helpers in beauty parlours. In some pockets, from where suspects have been picked up, some women were also found to be engaged in patch embroidery work, commissioned by local designers for a meagre compensation.”
5 caught at Vadodara railway station to be deported
The Vadodara Government Railway Police (GRP) on Sunday placed five Bangladeshi nationals, including a family of four, in confinement after they were found attempting to “escape to West Bengal” from the Chandola lake area. They were caught at Vadodara railway station from a Howrah-bound train. Among them were two children aged 14 and 11 who were travelling with their parents, all of whom had Bangladeshi documents. SP, Western Railway, Vadodara, Saroj Kumari, said, “The family had boarded the train on a general ticket and paid the difference fine to the TTE to upgrade their ticket, when they were caught. When we asked them to show identity proof, they produced documents of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, which confirmed their identity. Along with them, one Bangladeshi immigrant was also detained.”
Saroj Kumari said that the railway police had identified four trains connecting Gujarat to West Bengal – Howrah Express, Shalimar Express, Barauni Express and a train to Asansol – to carry out checks on suspected illegal immigrants. The GRP also has seven other suspected Bangladeshi nationals, currently under probe, who were found in a Howrah-bound train on Wednesday.
Kumari added that the GRP had received the restraining orders from the Vadodara city police in case of the five confirmed Bangladeshi nationals, and they have been put up in the Vadodara Railway Headquarters as a temporary confinement centre. “We will be handing them over to the Vadodara city police for the process of deportation, when it is initiated,” Kumari said.
Story continues below this ad
The Vadodara city police also confirmed that 18 illegal immigrants were Bangladeshi nationals until Thursday evening. Along with six other illegal Bangladeshi immigrants found over a year, the city police have now initiated a process of deportation of all 24 Bangladeshis currently lodged in temporary confinement in different police stations.
‘State-wide drive to serve as deterrent’
A Gujarat Police official said that while many of the 6,500 suspected Bangladeshi immigrants currently under probe statewide have been explaining the “means of livelihood” as being labour work, many were “part of local crime circles”, especially involved in peddling drugs and petty theft and pickpocketing.
“There is a reason why the state government emphasised before the high court, while replying to the petition in the Chandola lake demolitions, the menace of crime in the area…,” the officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“Several of the immigrants peddle drugs or work with local drug lords to earn quick money. Those who were able to establish themselves also became sub-agents, earning commissions from other illegal immigrants by facilitating their stay in Gujarat. They have been involved in thefts and other crimes, especially immoral trafficking, forcing minors into the flesh trade and also linked to others involved in bigger conspiracies against national security,” the officer added.
Story continues below this ad
The officer said that even as the “exhausting” process of confirming the identities of the alleged illegal Bangladeshi nationals is on, “a coordinated, state-wide drive” will deter many other illegal immigrants from arriving in Gujarat now.
Gujarat Director General of Police Vikas Sahay had said earlier this week that 450 Bangladeshi nationals had been confirmed as being illegal immigrants in the state.
