At a time when Odisha is all set to become the first State in the country to take up construction of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for urban poor, chances of inclusion of a huge number Bangladeshi infiltrators looms large.
Thousands of Bangladeshi infiltrators are staying across the State, mostly in coastal districts like Puri and Kendrapada and Angul and also in the State capital city of Bhubaneswar and are allegedly engaged in various antisocial activities.
If they were included under the ‘Housing for All’ scheme in urban areas then it would be a risky affair for the Government.
Notably, on December 6, 2010, the Chief Minister while answering a query of the then Congress MlA Santosh Singh Saluja had informed the Assembly that as many as 10,846 Bangladeshi infiltrators are residing in Odisha. On March 18, 2013, Patnaik responding to a query of the then BJP MlA Pratap Chandra Sarangi had maintained that as many as 3,987 Bangladeshi infiltrators are residing in the State.
But their actual number is much more than the official one, say knowledgeable quarters.
In December 2013, as many as 11 MlAs cutting across party lines, while expressing happiness over the State Government’s decision to reserve 20 per cent of developed land earmarked for residential purpose in the city development plan for houses for slum dwellers and lower economic groups, had urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik not to rehabilitate Bangladeshi infiltrators in cities under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) at any cost.
They had urged the Chief Minister not to entertain the encroachers in rehabilitating them under any other housing schemes of the Government.