Nearly 8,500 Bangladeshis living illegally in Uttar Pradesh

An estimated 8,500 Bangladeshis are living illegally in different parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said here today. 

"Of these, about 6,000 are living in Meerut followed by 1,800 in Lucknow and 350 in Noida," state home secretary Dipak Kumar told reporters here.

As many as 57 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested and 18 extradited till May end this year, the official said.

The home secretary said that respective district police, as part of routine exercise, conduct verification of suspected people and wherever necessary take action. 

Asked whether the people who were recently displaced from Pipraghat area of the state capital by the district administration under an anti-encroachment drive were Bangladeshi nationals, he said that it was being examined. 

The administration had claimed that those evicted were suspected to be Bangladeshis. The drive had come in for criticism from opposition parties.