Uttarakhand police to carry out a drive against 'foreign infiltrators' living in state

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand police will soon carry out a state-wide verification drive to identify ‘ foreign infiltrators ' who are residing illegally in the state with fake and forged documents.

The development came a day after chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami chaired a meeting with senior police officers at the state police headquarters on Thursday in Dehradun, in which he directed them to run a stringent drive against such infiltrators and those facilitating them.

One of the senior police officers, who attended the meeting, on account of anonymity, told TOI that the drive will primarily focus on four of the state's 13 districts. "Emphasis will be on Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun, and Nainital, from where police had earlier arrested a few foreigners, including Bangladeshis, living illegally without the required documentation. Police have been carrying out verification drives regularly, but now these will be intensified to arrest these individuals and take required legal action against them," he said, adding, "Police will also identify those facilitating these infiltrators in obtaining govt ID documents. Those living illegally will not be spared."

Deputy inspector general (DIG) (law & order), Nilesh Anand Bharne, said, "Police will work as per directions of the CM. Proper legal actions will be taken against those violating the law of the land."