Scores of undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants have gathered near the Bangladesh border in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, seeking to cross into the neighboring country.
The development comes after the newly elected BJP government in West Bengal directed district magistrates to set up holding centers for undocumented immigrants before deportation.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has instructed the police not to send the immigrants to jails, but to hand them over to the Border Security Force for deportation.
Several Bangladeshi nationals, who had lived and worked in West Bengal for years, have expressed willingness to return to Bangladesh, citing government pressure to leave.
The movement of undocumented immigrants towards the border had first increased in November, declined earlier this year, and risen again over the past two days.
