NEW DELHI: Even as the Centre and the Assam administration continue to be seized of the issue of illegal immigration along India’s eastern borders, 2,399 Bangladeshi nationals were “intercepted and found using fraudulently obtained Indian documents” in five years, the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday admitted in Lok Sabha.
Responding to a question in the lower House, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that the interception of the Bangladeshi nationals took place at Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) controlled by the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) between 2017 and 2022.
India’s international border with Bangladesh is “marked by a high degree of porosity and the checking of illegal cross-border activities and illegal migration” from the country’s eastern neighbor” are major challenges, according to the home ministry.
Border fencing and flood lights, besides “technological solutions”, including using digital gadgets and other equipment such as sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are some of the deterrents that border guarding forces have deployed along the India-Bangladesh border.
In its reply, the MHA revealed that the central government “has issued instructions to state governments and Union Territories for taking appropriate prompt steps for identification of illegal immigrants”. The state governments have been instructed to “restrict” suspected illegal immigrants to “specified locations as per provisions of law”.
Besides, the state police forces are empowered to “capture biographic and biometric particulars” and cancel fake documents before “legal proceedings, including initiation of deportation proceedings as per provisions of law”.
The MHA said that state governments “have also been advised to share the particulars of those illegal migrants who have wrongfully obtained Aadhaar cards with UIDAI for appropriate legal action”. Cancelling identification documents – voter identity cards, driving licences, ration cards etc – obtained fraudulently by illegal migrants is also part of the standard operating procedure when such persons are interdicted from time to time.