Bangladeshi infiltrators pose threat to security and administration

Barrackpore, Dec 2 (UNI) Bangladeshi infiltrators, held prisoners in correctional homes in West Bengal, pose a threat to state prison and district administration, since Bangladesh is not "interested" in taking them back.

Speaking at an informal meeting with newspersons here yesterday, Dum Dum Central Correctional Home Secretary of state Ren Chen Tempo said this and added that due to the delay and lack of interest shown by their country, the released Bangladeshi prisoners were overstaying, making it diffcult for the administration to restrict their movement.

''More than a thousand Bangladeshis, held in prisons in districts on the Bengal-Bangladesh border, posed serious concern for the state,'' said Ms Tempo.

''In most cases deportation of these released foreign nationals are not possible since the concerned countries hardly take interest or initiative in taking them back,'' she added.

Citing an example, Ms Tempo said that out of the 483 released Bangladeshi prisoners, most of them could not be deported, since the Bangladeshi authorities were not responding accordingly.

Besides such Bangladeshi Nationals, at least 376 other Bangladeshis remained behind bars in the Central Correctional Home as undertrial prisoners, while 69 others remained as convicts.

Incidentally, while most correctional homes in North 24 Parganas were occupied by Bangladesh nationals, their number continued to rise since the border forces had failed to stop the infiltrators from crossing the international border, Ms Tempo informed.

Moreover, the influx of Bangladeshi nationals in North 24 Parganas also caused concern for the administration since Bangladeshi nationals were difficult to identify as they blended well with the local Indians, observed Chief of the Zilla Parishad in North 24 Parganas Aparna Gupta.

UNI