Indian central govt asks West Bengal to allow 2,680 Indians stranded in Bangladesh

India’s central government has again urged West Bengal government to allow entry of 2,680 Indians who remain stranded in Bangladesh after a lockdown was enforced across India in March, NDTV reported on Sunday.

“The central government had made a similar request a few weeks back to let the people enter through two of the six land borders with Bangladesh,” the report quoted an Indian senior official as saying.

The report also said a letter was sent by India’s Ministry of External Affairs Additional Secretary Vikram Doraiswami to Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, saying: “Our Mission in Dhaka has once again reported that 2,399 people are seeking to return to West Bengal from Bangladesh through the Petrapole-Benapole integrated checkpost and further 281 citizens are seeking to do so through the Phulbari-Banglabandha land border.”

The people stranded in Bangladesh “are living in extreme distress, including sheltering in school verandah or public parks,” the letter said.

Most of them are either unskilled or semi-skilled labourers who had gone to the neighbouring country to see their relatives, the official told NDTV.

The state government is considering the request of the Centre and working out the modalities, he added.