Bhubaneswar: Odisha BJP legislator Suryabanshi Suraj on Monday accused the state government of promoting criminal activities by not taking any step on illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
Speaking to media outside the Assembly, the Dhamnagar MLA said the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have been indulging in criminal activities like peddling drugs and brown sugar in Odisha after smuggling those from their country.
“These migrants have already created a brown sugar corridor from Bangladesh to Ganjam. They have been found to be involved in almost all brown sugar cases detected in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Ganjam,” he said.
He further said Minister of State (Home) Tusharkanti Behera has admitted in the Assembly that as many as 3,740 Bangladeshi refugees are living in the state illegally.
In a reply to Suryavanshi’s quesrtion, the minister on Monday said total 1,57,432 Bangladeshi refugees are residing in Odisha at present. Malkangiri district has highest 1,04,233 Bangladeshi refugees, followed by 46,848 in Nabarangpur and 4,653 in Khurda, he added.
Expressing his grave concern over rising use of white poison among the youths of the state, the MLA said, “Odisha will turn another Punjab in use of drugs. We may see ‘Udta Odisha’ very soon.”
