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BJP state unit president Manmohan Samal, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik before leaving for Delhi, on Monday expressed his unhappiness over the government's decision.
Samal described the government's action as illegal and said the Bangladeshi nationals had already been settled in Raighar over the last three decades and allotted land and ration cards.
The Centre had rehabilitated them as they were treated as refugees rather than as infiltrators as described by the state government, he said.
Samal demanded that the government reconsider its decision to deport the Bangladeshi nationals from Raighar.
According to official sources, the district administration had identified 538 Bangladeshi nationals staying illegally in the Nawarangpur district, a majority of whom are already settled in Raighar block.
The state government has so far declared the stay of 55 Bangladeshi nationals as unauthorised.
Raighar has been witnessing frequent clashes between local tribals and the Bangladeshi settlers over the ownership of land resulting in the death of at least five tribals in police firing during November last year.
Following the unrest, the state government recently served with notices to as many as 130 Bangladeshi nationals who had entered into the area after December 1971. They were told to leave the country.
The 21 Bangladeshi nationals, all males, were deported in the first phase of the operation.
UNI
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