Krishnagar, Feb. 22: The Nadia administration has arrested 100 Bangladeshis and lodged FIRs against 700 others who were living in the district illegally, some of them for years.

A survey to identify the intruders was initiated following a verbal instruction from an Election Commission observer who toured Nadia recently, district magistrate Rajesh Pandey said today.

He refused to clarify whether it was K.J. Rao or Amit- abh Rajan.

“Our survey, which began on February 1, has so far confirmed that about 800 Bangladeshis were staying in Nadia illegally. We have lodged FIRs and arrested 100 of them,” the district magistrate said.

Police are searching for the 700 others against whom FIRs have been lodged.

Nadia superintendent of police R. Rajasekharan said many of them are believed to have travelled outside Nadia in connection with jobs.

The police are also inquiring into the citizenship of about 40,000 people against whom various political parties ? mostly the Opposition ? had lodged complaints.

The drive against foreigners, however, has drawn flak from the district CPM.

S.M. Sadi, a Nadia secre- tariat member, said the party would offer “all possible help” to the hundreds of people who are being arrested under the Foreigners Act.

“We have information that the Election Commission has been pressured by the Congress, the Trinamul Congress and the BJP to hunt for non-existent Bangladeshi voters. These parties are trying to proj- ect a false picture of Nadia be-fore the EC. We have discussed the issue at a party meeting and decided that we will oppose such efforts,” he said.

“We will also offer legal aid to those arrested.”

The district magistrate admitted that various political parties’ complaints prompted the administration into action but refused to see politics in the survey. “Many of the Bangladeshis have purchased land, built houses, managed to get voter and ration cards and Indian passports,” he said.

In none of the other border districts, where a few thousand people apparently sneak in every year, has such a survey been initiated, though.

In 10 municipality areas of Nadia, the number of ration cards is more than the population which, according to Pandey, is a clear indicator of the Bangladeshi influx. “For a population of about 8 lakh, there are over 9 lakh ration cards. A drive is on to identify and cancel the bogus cards,” he said.

“The work is continuing on a war footing. We have already scrapped about 2 lakh ration cards in the district. About 50 per cent of them have been from these municipality areas,” an officer said.

According to the police, about 900 non-bailable warrants are awaiting execution in the district. Of the accused, 86 could not be held as they were goons from Bangladesh who crossed over to that country after committing their crime.

The superintendent of police said: “The Bangladeshis staying in Nadia are engaged in various criminal activities. They are wanted for several offences like rape and murder.”