Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, on Wednesday, 29 January claimed the state has over three lakh Bangladeshis and there are around 3,000 such migrants in Bengaluru city.
However, by his own admission, Rao arrived at this figure without conducting any survey or citing any reports.
Instead, he said the figure was based on the information provided by Bangladeshis deported from the city recently. Bengaluru police had recently deported 59 Bangladeshis who were found without documents in November 2019.
Commissioner Rao made the statement at a conclave on Construction Workers’ Safety, Health and Welfare organised by the labour department and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
“They come to Bengaluru in search of employment. Unlike other cities, Bengaluru has a lot of job potential, and firms here pay good salaries too. There are a lot of Bangladeshis working in the construction industry,” Rao was quoted as saying in The Times of India.
They Are Willing to Work for Low Wages: Commissioner
The commissioner said the Bangladeshi migrants are willing to work for wages as low as Rs 150, while Indian workers demand upwards of Rs 300 and Rs 600. This, he says, has made them attractive to human traffickers.
However, Suresh Hari, chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, said they’re not aware of the nationality of their workers as contractors bring registered workers for the activities.
Talking to The Deccan Herald Zia Nomani, youth president of Swaraj India, which works with migrant population, said there was a tendency by the police to assume that all migrant workers, even if they are Indians, are Bangaldeshis.
Comments Come After Controversial Raid
The statement comes days after an entire settlement of migrant workers was demolished in Bengaluru’s Bellandur, alleging they were illegal Bangladeshis. Their claim was later found to be untrue and many of them held documents proving their citizenship.
The attack on the settlement is alleged to be a result of dog-whistling by BJP MLA Arvind Limbavali.
The demolition which was termed as ‘illegal’ by BBMP, took place days after Limbavali shared a video of the settlement and claimed its residents were Bangladeshi immigrants. The demolition was completed on the police’s watch.
The Karnataka High Court on 22 January, ordered an interim stay on the demolition drive which left hundreds of migrant workers homeless in Bengaluru’s Bellandur. The High Court questioned the seemingly ‘invisible source’ of the order to carry out the demolition after the BBMP and the police refused to take responsibility for the incident in court.
‘Figure Based on Interrogation of Deported Immigrants’
Bengaluru police commissioner said he arrived at the figure of three lakh Bangladeshis based on the interrogation of deported illegal immigrants. In the last six months, Bengaluru police have deported around 100 Bangladeshis from the state. The biggest catch for Bengaluru police was the arrest of 59 Bangladeshis in November last year.
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