Assam: 68 Foreign Detainees Shifted To Matia Transit Camp

GUWAHATI : Senior government official released an information regarding settlement of around 68 foreigners in the newly built detention centre on 27th of January, Friday. 

The centre is now officially known as, transit camp located in Assam's Goalpara district. With the settlement of these 68 foreigners, the phase-wise shifting of detainees has marked a beginning. The Matia Transit camp is situated at a distance of 150km from Assam's capital city, Guwahati. 

This particular camp is the first ever centre to offer shelter for 'illegal foreigners'. The camp is established under set guidelines laid down by the Centre. Prior to this shift, the detainees lived in six detention centre across the state of Assam. 

According to government officials, the transferred individuals include both foreigners, declared by Foreigner Tribunals of the state along with the convicted ones by legal court for breaking visa rules. 

The Inspector General of Prisons, Barnali Sharma stated that, amongst the 68 people, 45 are men and 21 are women. Two children are also included among them. All of them were declared as foreign nationals, she added. 

The detention centres are located in Kokrajhar and Goalpara's district jail and the other locations include Central jails of Tezpur, Silchar, Dibrugarh and Jorhat. As per a government data, the centres held 195 prisoners until September, 2022. 

The Matia Transit Camp is surrounded with farmlands and forest and established in 20 bighas of land. The total estimated cost of construction of the camp is more than Rs 46 crore. The camp holds a capacity of 3,000 prisoners inside it. 

The step to transfer the prisoners is based on an order by Guwahati High Court, which directed the administration to make the Matia camp operational. The order was passed on November, 2022. 

Notably, the state government has been frequently slammed for absence of decent living condition inside the jail, where the prisoners were kept.

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