The Jharsuguda police in Odisha have detained 444 migrant workers for verification on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas allegedly residing in India without documentation.
Those detained include workers employed in construction, mining, and various industrial units across the district.
Officials said that following directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, all districts in Odisha were instructed to form Special Task Forces (STFs) headed by Superintendents of Police, The Indian Express reported. Each STF has been assigned a Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) to identify and facilitate the deportation of undocumented migrants.
Jharsuguda SP Smit Parmar confirmed that a special task force had been constituted based on Home Ministry guidelines and had placed the detained workers in two holding centres located in different towns.
District authorities have been directed to detect, identify, and deport those unable to produce proof of citizenship. FROs have also been tasked with designating holding centres in each district for keeping people during the verification process. Additionally, the state government has earmarked an old jail in Athagarh as a state-level holding centre.
This development comes just days after neighbouring West Bengal accused Odisha of detaining nearly 100 of its migrant workers on false suspicion that they were Bangladeshis.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in Odisha in 2024, has been running a sustained campaign alleging the presence of Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants in the state. The campaign has been steeped in Islamophobia, with Hindutva leaders repeatedly targeting Muslims in their speeches and linking them to “illegal migration” without presenting evidence.
