Odisha detains 16 from Burdwan on suspicion of being B’deshi nationals
The Statesman | 12 July 2025
Sixteen migrant labourers from Ketugram in Burdwan were detained by the Odisha government over suspicions of their Bangladeshi origin and placed in a detention camp. Thirteen of them were released today following an intervention by the district magistrate (DM) of East Burdwan, who contacted the DM of Jharsuguda last evening.
Partha Chatterjee, pradhan of Mougram panchayat in Ketugram, had earlier appealed to the block development officer (BDO) of Ketugram–I for immediate district-level intervention. The appeal was then forwarded to the district administration.
The workers, all residents of Char Sujapur village, possessed valid voter identity cards (EPICs), Aadhaar cards, and mobile phones linked to their Aadhaar numbers. “Despite this, they were detained simply for being Bengali-speaking,” said Chatterjee. “Their families have resided in Char Sujapur for generations.”
In response to the gravity of the situation, DM East Burdwan, Ms Ayesha Rani A, contacted her counterpart in Jharsuguda, leading to the release of 13 individuals. Three labourers remain confined. “We are pursuing the release of the remaining three,” she confirmed.
Official government data indicates there are over 5 lakh permanent residents in Odisha who continue to speak Bengali as their mother tongue. The detained labourers have regularly travelled to Jharsuguda for work over the past 25 years.
One of the released workers, Azabul Sheikh, said: “They labelled us Bangladeshi, even though we produced our EPICs and Aadhaar cards. They demanded ancestral land deeds, which we did not carry.” In response, the Mougram panchayat collected land ownership papers from their families and forwarded them via WhatsApp to the Jharsuguda authorities.
The wife of one detained worker, Tarekunnesa Sheikh, whose husband Ibrahim was sent to the camp, shared: “When MGNREGA works stopped here, my husband—like many others—migrated to Odisha three years ago. We speak Bengali and are unfamiliar with Hindi. He has only recently started learning Oriya to communicate better.” Another detainee, Nurshed Sheikh, who has been working in Odisha for 17 years, remains in custody. His mother, Narisa Biwi, has submitted a fresh petition today pleading for his release.