Infiltration putting pressure on WB’s economy: Basu

“We know the Bangladeshis come, work and then return to their homes in places like Maldha and Murshidabad districts,” he said.

“We don’t resist (them)… they come for economic reasons.”

They also travelled to various other cities in India, the chief minister added.

Basu suggested that the Indian and Bangladeshi governments should hold talks on the issue to find a permanent solution.

“We know from reports that the Bangladesh government has also agreed to take back illegal migrants if they are furnishedwith proof,” he said.

In a recent interview with a local paper, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed had denied infiltration by Bangaldeshis into India.

But Basu maintained that reports of Bangladeshis entering India illegally kept coming in. However, the rate of infiltration had dropped, he said.

Speaking about the controversial deportation of a group of people which the Maharashtra government claimed were Bangladeshis, Basu said: “We told our counterpart in Maharashtra that it has to inform us and follow a proper procedure.”

“We cannot throw them out just like that,” he added.

Referring to the incident, he said “most of them were local people, but the group had quite a few Bangladeshis too.”

Basu also backed the idea of border fencing as a possible solution to the problem. “We have to carry on with the fencing since we are two nations,” he said.

Fencing a long border like the Indo-Bangla one however would pose new problems, the chief minister said, pointing out that thelocal people would protest the use of agricultural land for the purpose. “But,” he concluded, “we have to accept fencing.”

On the issue of exchange of enclaves, he told the journalists that he would take up the issue with the Union government soon. He also admitted that 1974 Indira-Mujib pact was “not implemented in toto.”

As for the Calcutta-Dhaka bus service, the chief minister assured the visitors that he would take up the issue with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee when he visited New Delhi next.