Illegal refugees returning to Bangladesh after CAA: Official

In the wake of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have begun to flee India back to their native country, a senior Border Security Force official said.

There is also a drop in the number of Bangladeshi nationals crossing over to India in the last one month after the CAA came into being.

The BSF official, posted at the BSF Delhi headquarters, claimed that the majority of the efflux of illegal migrants was happening in the 24 Parganas district in southern West Bengal.

A senior BSF officer said that the BSF had arrested 268 illegal immigrants in January while they were returning to Bangladesh.

Interestingly, these people opted for the traditional routes to return to Bangladesh instead of the illegal routes.

As per BSF South Bengal frontier Inspector General Y.B. Khurniya, a sharp rise in the number of illegal immigrants fleeing back was witnessed in the border areas of India adjoining Bangladesh.

Due to the absence of fencing in the riverine areas of South Bengal frontier on the Bangladesh-India border, infiltration is a headache for the authorities.IANS