Dehradun: Security agencies are worried over cases of dual citizenship of people living along the India-Nepal border in Uttarakhand. Besides, cases of Nepali people doing farming in No Man's Land came to light.
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has expressed concern over these developments and the force is now involved in conducting the survey with the help of the local administration. Cases of dual citizenships of India and Nepal among people living in the border areas of Uttarakhand were detected by the SSB which collected documents from people.
"We have found such cases in Pithoragarh's Jhulaghat and some areas of Champawat district on the Indo-Nepal border. The district administrations concerned have been informed about this," DN Bhombe, Deputy Inspector General, Almora region of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), said.
The SSB officer said that the personnel deployed in all the 54 border outposts of the force in Uttarakhand are trying to identify such people living in the Indian territory, who have dual citizenship of India and Nepal.
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Cases of dual citizenship are being reported from Pithoragarh and Champawat districts. Sashastra Seema Bal has stated identifying people with the help of local administration regarding this matter.
Pithoragarh Deputy District Magistrate Anil Kumar Shukla said there are two types of Nepalese living in India. He said the first category is of those women who got married and came to India, but neither gave up their Nepalese citizenship nor acquired Indian citizenship.
Shukla said the second category is of those people whose entire family came from Nepal and settled in India without taking Indian citizenship.
"We have found many cases in which they fraudulently obtained Aadhaar cards and voter ID cards in India. We immediately cancelled their fake documents," he added.
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The deputy inspector general of the SSB said that apart from the smuggling of wild animals' body parts and drugs, we are also giving priority to preventing human trafficking, and we have formed special teams for this. He said the SSB personnel keep close contact with the villagers living in the border areas in order to gain information about the arrival of any outsider there.
Considering the seriousness of the matter, Sashastra Seema Bal has asked the soldiers deployed at all 54 border outposts in Uttarakhand to identify the people living in the Indian side of the border. The officials of Sashastra Seema Bal communicated with the district administration and sought their help in the identification of people.
Apart from this, Sashastra Seema Bal is also striving to stop the smuggling of wildlife as well as the illegal transportation of medicines and narcotics. A special team has been constituted by the SSB to tackle the issue.
After this matter came to light, security agencies became alert and started a special campaign to identify the people in this case. This has been confirmed during PTI's conversation with Sashastra Seema Bal.
