The main secretary of West Bengal Manoj Pant wrote to his Oish’s counterpart Manoj Ahuja and was looking for “immediate intervention with maximum sensitivity” to stop alleged harassment and arbitrarily detention of Bengal migraine workers in different parts of ODISHA. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/Istockphoto
The main secretary of West Bengal Manoj Pant wrote to his Oish’s counterpart Manoj Ahuja and was looking for “immediate intervention with maximum sensitivity” to stop alleged harassment and arbitrarily detention of Bengal migraine workers in different parts of ODISHA.
The letter, dated 3 July, described such the treatment of “unacceptable” and sought verifying the Indian citizenship of these workers who “contributed long to Oish’s economy as the employees of the daily wages, the Rikša, home assistance and long -term settlers”. She also emphasized the need to protect their dignity and prevent any human rights violations in the region.
Mr. Pant said that despite several attempts to provide verified data from the West Bengal government for his people, there was no specific steps in Odisha that would stop such cases of harassment and offer relief to migrating workers.
Today, the main secretary of West Bengal Shri Manoj Pant wrote to his counterpart Odisha, who urged him to end the harassment of Bengal -speaking migrating workers. ODISHA authorities refused to accept any centrally issued identity documents such as Aadhar and Epic, and demanded… pic.twitter.com/tqwey5Gage
– Samirul Islam (@samurulaitc) 3 July 2025
“We receive worrying reports of detaining these individuals without a proper legal process in the regions around Paradip and across coastal districts such as Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapar, Bhadrak, Malkangiri, Balasore and Cuttack.
“Take a humanitarian look”
The main secretary of Bengal has appealed to his counterpart Odisha to “take a humanitarian view of this matter and ensure that these individuals who are Indian citizens are not exposed to arbitrary retention or harassment based on linguistic or regional identity”. Mr. Pant added that the government of West Bengal is ready to provide any other data and verification needed to ensure that they remain safe.
Congress Trinamool Rajya Sabha also opposed the alleged harassment and said that even after all required documents, including the Aadhaar cards and election lists, the ODISha government was not satisfied. “Odisha has no other requirements, but their police still reject these poor migrant workers in many cases. They are illegally detained for 24 hours without being made in court,” Islam said in a social media. He called on the government of Odisha not to “not fire hate policy and let migrants live in peace and dignity.”
The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has had several times in the last few months that people coming from the state who speak in Bengali have been marked as “Bangladesh” in some countries controlled by BJP. “Is it a crime to speak in Bengal? Even the Indians who have valid documents, but have been found to speak in Bengal, are marked as Bangladesh and detained,” she said.
Published – 4 July 2025 20:55
