Mumbai: Minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam informed the state assembly on Tuesday that the govt has asked developers and contractors in Mumbai to give an undertaking that they did not employ Bangladeshis in their projects.
If any Bangladeshi was noticed in the project, it was their responsibility to inform the police, he said. The directive would be issued next in Navi Mumbai, he added. He was responding to questions in the state assembly on the action taken by the state against Bangladeshi infiltrators.
“The police and labour department conducted inquiries with contractors and developers in Mumbai and Thane about employing Bangladeshis, but there was a delay in providing information,” said Kadam.
“Then Mumbai’s guardian minister held a meeting and said that Mumbai’s contractors and developers will have to give an undertaking that they are not employing Bangladeshi labourers,” said Kadam.
He was responding to questions raised by BJP MLA Manisha Choudhary. “A large number of delivery boys employed by Swiggy, Zomato, and Blinkit are Bangladeshis,” she alleged. She also asked what the govt was doing about Bangladeshi labourers employed at construction sites.
Meanwhile, Kadam said that the Mahayuti govt arrested and deported the largest number of Bangladeshis in the state’s history. In 2021, the state deported 109 Bangladeshis, but by 2024, the number rose to 202. The state arrested 716 Bangladeshis in 2024. However, by March 2025, it already arrested 600, he said.
However, he said that the state was not able to convert most arrests into deportations because of the lack of cooperation from the West Bengal govt about the documents held by the Bangladeshi migrants.
“Of around 400-500 Bangladeshis that are arrested, only around 20-25 can be deported after court proceedings,” he revealed.
He said that most of them had documents and in 99% of the cases, these documents were made in West Bengal. “In court, we need to prove that these documents are fake, but the West Bengal govt does not cooperate and help us. We have informed the Union Home Ministry about this,” said Kadam.
He also said that the govt set up a detention centre for 80 Bangladeshis and another detention centre was also being built.