UP: Gorakhpur civic body verifies over 3,100 sanitation workers; no illegal immigrant found

Gorakhpur, Dec 7 (PTI) The Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation has completed verification of all sanitation workers in the city, and none were found to be of foreign origin, officials said on Sunday.

Municipal Commissioner Gaurav Singh Sogarwal said more than 3,100 sanitation workers -- both permanent and outsourced -- were scrutinised as part of the exercise.

The verification drive follows Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's directive to identify illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya settlers in Uttar Pradesh.

"We verified every worker, including those hired through outsourcing. None were found to be Bangladeshi or Rohingya," he said, adding, a three-member committee of senior officials has been constituted to carry out the verification.

Meanwhile, the Shahpur night shelter in Gorakhpur has been earmarked as a detention centre for housing any undocumented foreign nationals identified during ongoing checks in the district.

The multi-storey facility currently hosts a humanitarian organisation on its ground floor and has four rooms on each of its three floors. Around 50 beds -- 30 for men and 20 for women -- have been arranged, officials said.

Once operational, the centre will provide food, medical care and security to the detainees, they added.

The initiative is part of a statewide drive launched after the chief minister directed all districts to identify, detain and deport illegal immigrants. Detention facilities are being prepared in several districts as part of the exercise, officials said. PTI COR CDN ARB ARB