Kolkata | West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday said Bangladeshi infiltrators detained in the state would be directly handed over to the BSF for deportation, instead of being produced before courts, in line with a new rule that came into effect in the state a day ago.
Speaking to reporters after an administrative review meeting at the Howrah district magistrate's office, Adhikari said instructions had already been issued to the police commissioner and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in this regard.
"Since yesterday, the new rule has come into effect under which infiltrators will not be sent to courts but handed over to BSF outposts at the Bangladesh border," he said.
Adhikari on Wednesday announced the implementation of a mechanism under which infiltrators detained by the state police would be handed over directly to the BSF for deportation, unveiling what he described as part of a broader "detect, delete and deport" framework.
Although the CM did not name the Act under whose purview the newly elected BJP government in Bengal made the policy shift for prosecution of infiltrators, it appeared Adhikari was referring to the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, passed by Parliament in April last year.
The Act aims to provide a modern, tech-driven system for immigration, registration, surveillance, detention, and deportation in India.
"The police commissioner and the RPF have been clearly instructed that if illegal migrants from Bangladesh, who are not entitled to apply for citizenship under the CAA, are detained at the Howrah Station, they should not be sent to a court.
"The persons concerned should be properly fed and then taken directly to the BSF personnel at the Petrapole border in Bongaon or the border outpost in Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district," he said.
Adhikari also said that a weekly report on the number of such detainees would have to be submitted to the Chief Minister's Office through the DGP.
During the meeting, the chief minister reviewed civic infrastructure and development-related issues concerning Howrah city on the western bank of the Hooghly River, adjacent to Kolkata.
Adhikari said he was hopeful about completing the delimitation exercise of wards under the civic bodies of Howrah and adjacent Bally by December this year, where municipal elections have long remained pending, and initiating the process of forming elected boards at both urban local bodies.
"As part of the long-term planning for development of Howrah municipal area, we have decided to complete the delimitation exercise by the end of this year and then hand over the city's responsibility to its elected civic board," the CM said.
For the short term spanning over the next three months, Adhikari said the administration would focus on priority areas of supply of clean and filtered drinking water, garbage clean up, drainage system repair and upgrading other civic amenities like parks, healthcare facilities and educational institutions.
He said a coordination committee had been constituted under the district magistrate with officials of the railways and civic body as members to plan and execute their respective responsibilities for improving civic infrastructure.
The committee's activities would be monitored by Municipal Affairs Secretary Khalil Ahmed, he added.
"We have sought a fact-finding report on illegal constructions in Howrah and will launch an investigation into alleged corruption indulged in by a section of builders. The administration will build alternative water bodies to those which have been filled up," Adhikari said.
The CM referred to the state-appointed commission against institutional corruption, chaired by retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Biswajit Basu, and which has for its member secretary senior IPS officer K Jayaraman. The panel is tasked with investigating allegations of graft, including "cut money" scams, and is scheduled to officially begin functioning on June 1.
"The commission will act quickly. It will collect evidence and conduct public hearings based on which FIRs will be lodged, arrests will be made, and subsequent punishments will follow," he said, adding that the swindled public money will be recovered from the guilty.
Adhikari said he instructed the Howrah city police to lodge fresh FIRs and take appropriate action with respect to incidents of political violence and other law and order issues, especially crimes committed against women.
The chief minister was accorded a guard of honour at the Howrah district magistrate's office before he chaired the administrative meeting.
