SANGAREDDY: The recent arrest of Mofizil Islam, a 19-year-old Assamese youth working as a mason in Gollapalli village of Kondapur mandal, and the subsequent revelation during the Assam Police’s press conference blindsided local authorities. Now, local contractors are being told to make background checks mandatory while law enforcement looks to enforce a slew of measures to tighten security and surveillance in the industrial belt.
The fast-industrialising areas of Patancheru and Sangareddy have seen an influx of thousands of migrant workers from Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and other states. Labour contractors hire these migrants on commission without conducting proper background checks, leaving room for misuse. In many cases, networks are unearthed only when arrests like Islam’s bring them to the surface.
In response, the district police have decided to counsel labour contractors and make background verification mandatory before employment. Contractors will now be held responsible for verifying migrants’ Aadhaar details, and no hiring will be allowed without proper documentation.
Tracking migrant movements has become a challenge, with around 200 people entering and leaving the Patancheru area daily. Police are stepping up surveillance and urging locals to alert them when new faces appear in their neighbourhoods.
“Islam arrived in the district just six days ago and joined work through an acquaintance. No one else was involved in his hiring,” Superintendent of Police Pankaj Paritosh told TNIE, adding that police are cracking down on those issuing fake SIMs for financial fraud, drug trafficking and burglaries. He admitted that identifying migrants from other states is difficult and will take time.