Over 4,000 Bangladeshi infiltrators in Orissa

The Orissa government has detected 4,035 infiltrators from Bangladesh, of whom 49 were deported.

"The state government is taking steps to deport the rest of them in consultation with the union government," chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also in charge of the home department said today.

The 4,035 infiltrators were in addition to the 10,846 refugees from Bangladesh.

Rejecting apprehensions that the infiltrators could help terrorists enter the mainland, Patnaik said that none of them had been found engaged in anti-national activities.

"If the government comes across such activities by the infiltrators, the administration will take strong action against them," Patnaik said.

Of the 4,035 Bangladeshi infiltrators, the highest 1649 were in coastal Kendrapara district followed by 1,112 in Jagatsinghpur district, 703 in Malkangiri district, 313 in Bhadrak district, 150 in Balasore district and 106 in Nabarangpur districts.

The Bangaladeshi nationals who came as refugees after 1971 war, were settled in different districts.

While 8,128 refugees were settled in Khurda district comprising the state capital, 2,402 were in Nabarangpur, 23 in Puri district and 293 in Rayagada district, official sources said.

Even as the entire eastern coast had been identified as "prone to terrorist influx" through water route, the sources said.