Operation Mukta: Bengaluru Migrants Fear Eviction Amid Anti-Garbage Mafia Drive

Nearly 400 migrant workers from West Bengal living in and around Hulimangala in Electronics City are anxious about their future as police continue Operation Mukta, a drive to identify and track illegal immigrants in Bengaluru. The immediate trigger is a set of show-cause notices served on landlords of premises allegedly used for unauthorised garbage segregation.

The notices cite health and sanitation concerns and claim the segregation units lack required permissions. Workers fear these notices are a precursor to their forced eviction from makeshift homes they have built over years.

Allauddin, a worker who has lived in the city for 11 years, said he and others work as garbage segregators and collectors under contractors. "Now, the police come here every day asking us to vacate. Where should we go? We have no other place to live. We used our savings to build these makeshift houses," he said.

The settlement houses not just waste workers but also construction labourers, daily-wage earners, domestic help, and security guards. Residents say the location is crucial because it is close to their workplaces and affordable.

Some workers also spoke of repeated identity checks despite carrying valid documents. One worker said locals often suspect them of being Bangladeshis upon hearing them speak Bengali and demand proof. "We have all the records and are not from Bangladesh, but we are repeatedly being targeted," he said.

For some, this is a familiar ordeal. Jabeer Sheikh recalled a similar exercise about four years ago when police forced them to vacate, and they were saved only after the State Human Rights Commission intervened.

Workers maintain they are not involved in any illegal activity and have appealed to authorities to distinguish between illegal immigrants and genuine migrant labourers who have lived and worked in Bengaluru for years.

Electronics City DCP M. Narayana, however, clarified there is no move to forcibly evict the workers. "There is no forced eviction. The police action is against an illegal garbage mafia operating in and around the area," he said, adding that notices were issued to units lacking permission from the Greater Bengaluru Authority or any other competent body. Further action, he said, will depend on the replies received.