Jaipur, May 16: The Rajasthan government today instructed district police chiefs to identify all Bangladeshis in the state in 30 days.

In a way, the process of identifying them has started. The police yesterday detained some Bangladeshis after Tuesday’s serial blasts. “Some 40 Bangladeshis with criminal background are being questioned,” said parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore.

State officials said Bangladeshis are present in large numbers in Jaipur and Ajmer. Most of the Bengali-speaking poor in Jaipur are rag-pickers earning between Rs 80 and Rs 100 a day and living in abject surroundings.

There are an estimated 50,000 Bangladeshis in Jaipur, many of whom settled here in 1972, a year after that country’s independence.

In the last three days, at least 15 people have been detained by the Galta Gate police alone. Just 2km from the police station near the Idgah slum is a “Bangla basti”, where an identification parade was conducted on Wednesday morning.

“I have been going every morning to this lock-up (at the police station) to provide food to the inmates,” said Taslima, who lives in the area. She admitted to being a Bangladeshi, but was not aware of her roots as she was born here.

But Taslima’s neighbours, Sabar Ali and wife Dilruba, were cautious despite giving their permanent address as Burhanpur in Murshidabad district.

Dilruba was once suspected to be a Bangladeshi and questioned by the police. “We have a ration card from Murshidabad but we don’t know Hindi,” Sabar said in Bengali.

He came to Jaipur three years ago and said his family had nothing to do with the Bangladeshis in the slum. “Ami apon kaj kori, apon khai,” he said.

Rathore said the district administration was told that once the foreign nationals are identified, their ration cards would be cancelled if they are found to possess any.

The police also have the additional task of co-ordinating with Bengal police to cross-check the alleged Bangladeshis’ credentials. Rathore said many of them claimed to have come from Cooch Behar and the 24-Paraganas in Bengal, and Silchar and Karimganj in Assam.