Mumbai: Minister of state Mangal Prabhat Lodha stated on Friday that the problem posed by illegal Rohingya immigrants in Mumbai is real. However, he said the problem of identifying and verifying the authenticity of their papers is an uphill task. He stated this during the course of an interaction with journalists of the Free Press Journal and Nav Shakti at the Free Press House.
Increasing number of illegal migrants
Lodha, who is handling the portfolios of tourism, skill development, entrepreneurship, women and child welfare, said it’s an utmost necessity that a close watch is kept on the increasing number of illegal migrants. Lodha, who is also the guardian minister for Mumbai suburbs, said the illegal migrants make fake documents in West Bengal and when questioned they claim that the papers are “genuine”. “However, the problem is that it is very difficult to send teams to West Bengal and verify the genuineness of the documents. Nevertheless, the government is alert to the situation,” he added.
Last year, Lodha had organised a meeting in the Malvani area of Malad as a part of his ‘Palakmantri Aplya Dari’ (Guardian minister at your doorstep). The meeting was attended by representatives of the police, BMC’s P-North ward officials, among others. During the meeting, citizens complained to him that Bangladeshis and Rohingyas were setting up huts illegally on the BMC and collector’s land and Hindu population was decreasing in the area as a result.
They claimed that since the last three years, 3,000-4,000 illegal huts have been built by illegal migrants because of which local people started leaving the area. Lodha had then constituted a committee to look into the complaints.
Accordingly, deputy municipal commissioner, DCP of Mumbai police, deputy collector and rationing officer were to be a part of the committee. This committee was to ascertain the presence of illegal migrants. Lodha had also directed the committee to inspect the areas and submit a report within 90 days.
Lodha on findings of the committee
When asked about the findings of the committee, Lodha said, “One ration shop owner of Malwani gave 400 names of Bangladeshis in the area. It’s a racket with many of them possessing fake identification cards from West Bengal. They can get residential proofs by spending a few hundreds of rupees. On that basis they make their Aadhaar and ration cards and include their names in voter lists. Now who will go and check whether the same person was studying in a particular school in West Bengal several years ago?” Lodha asked, adding that they have identified some of them and sent them back.
Lodha, who is a five-time MLA from Malabar Hill, said simultaneous efforts are being made to promote tourism in the state in a big way but there is an urgent need to upgrade infrastructure at tourist spots, he admitted.
Entrepreneurship development
About entrepreneurship development, the minister said the young generation is more oriented towards self-employment than jobs that need hard work. “Even when we organise job fairs, the number of dropouts visiting them is more. Hence, we now offer training to become entrepreneurs and ask them for at least one basic skill to be successful.”
While describing the government’s initiatives in the field of skill development, Lodha said his department has recently devised a complete plan to upgrade 428 ITIs across the state at an expense of several crores.
The real need for skilling people is in rural areas, the minister said, adding that very soon the state will have 500 rural skilling centres where the skills for ‘multi-mechanic’ – a person who can service multiple types of devices and machines – would be imparted. This shall boost the employment-worthiness of the rural youth to a greater extent as well help them become entrepreneurs and job givers, the minister explained.
