LG orders drive to identify illegal immigrants

New Delhi: The Delhi LG Secretariat on Tuesday directed the chief secretary and police commissioner of Delhi to launch a two-month special drive to iden-tify and take strict action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants residing in the national capital.

The move comes after a delegation of ulemas (clerics) and Muslim lead-ers from Hazrat Nizamuddin met LG VK Saxena on Saturday and ex-pressed concern over the treatment of minority communities in Bangla-desh and urged stringent action against infiltrators in the city, the LG Of-fice said in a note.

"The delegation highlighted that illegal immigrants should not be allowed to rent houses or secure employment and called for the immediate can-cellation of government documents such as Aadhaar and voter IDs ac-quired fraudulently," the note said. They also demanded the removal of encroachments by illegal immigrants on public spaces, including roads, footpaths, parks, and government land, the note read. The delegation also urged the madrassas and mosques to evict illegal immigrants if they were providing shelter, it added. The LG Secretariat di-rected the chief secretary to provide a time-bound response with weekly progress reports to be submitted. This directive has come amid height-ened political tensions as the issue of illegal immigration gains traction in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections.

The BJP recently accused AAP of facilitating the inclusion of illegal im-migrants as voters during its tenure, intensifying the political discourse. AAP, which secured landslide victories in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly elections, is seeking a third consecutive term while the BJP aims to re-gain power in the capital after 25 years. The LG's move is expected to add another dimension to the ongoing debate over illegal immigrants, law enforcement, and security in the city.