A senior Bengaluru police officer who is the nodal officer for deportation of 58 alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants detained in the city on October 25 is in Kolkata at present to iron out procedural concerns raised by local authorities in West Bengal and Bangladesh in pushing back all the people at one go. Bengaluru DCP (East) S D Sharanappa has been in Kolkata for the last two days to address the concerns, police officials here said. The 58 people arrived at Howrah railway station, near Kolkata, on Saturday afternoon along with a 30-member Karnataka police escort team. Bangladeshi authorities have opposed the efforts to push back 58 people across the border at one shot and have agreed to take them back in batches of five to 10 members, a senior police officer said. The 58 people, including 40 women and children, worked in Bengaluru as informal waste management workers for the city corporation or as domestic helps. They had told police at the time of detention last month that they are from Bangladesh’s Bagerhat district. Meanwhile, the state government on Tuesday told Karnataka High Court that 35 detention centres are being set up across the state to house identified illegal foreigners before deportation. On the issue of deporting the illegal immigrants, a senior Bengaluru police officer said, “There have been some problems at the local level in accepting the responsibility for handing them over to Bangladesh. The DCP has been in Kolkata over the last two days to sort things out and ensure that deportation takes place.” Bengaluru police had arrested 60 alleged illegal immigrants on October 25, and 58 of them were moved to Kolkata for deportation after obtaining clearances from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). “The deportation is taking place through an informal agreement between the two countries, so there have been questions raised at the local level in Bengal, and by Bangladesh. These have been addressed since the deportation has occurred with FRRO (Foreigner Regional Registration Office) and MHA clearances,’’ a senior officer said. With Bangladeshi authorities not allowing deportation of all 58 people at one go, the police team will remain in West Bengal until all of them are sent to Bangladesh, the police said. Meanwhile, in an affidavit filed before the bench of Justice K N Phaneendra, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajneesh Goel stated that 35 detention centres will be set up with all basic necessities, as outlined by a January 2019 manual of the MHA. The bench is monitoring creation of detention centres for illegal immigrants. The first detention centre of standards prescribed by the Union Home Ministry is expected to be opened in rural Bengaluru early next year.
