Permanent Detention Centre For ‘Declared Foreigners’ Coming Up At Goalpara

GUWAHATI: The State government is carrying out construction work for the first full-fledged permanent detention centre for ‘Declared Foreigners’ at Matia in Goalpara district even as the security agencies have been directed to file FIRs and arrest all the ‘Declared Foreigners’ who have been absconding after they were given the tag by the Foreigners Tribunals across the State. The permanent detention centre is expected to be operational after publication of the final NRC (National Register of Citizens) slated latest by July 31 this year.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has already given its nod to the permanent detention centre project, which is expected to be completed by December this year. The detention centre project stretched across 15 bigha of land and estimated to cost Rs 46.51 crore is being carried out by the Assam Police Housing Corporation. Once completed, it will have a capacity to house 3,000 inmates, informed Corporation sources.

The State government had felt the need for detention centres for the Declared Foreigners in Assam way back in 2014. The State government in September 2015 notified six district jails as ‘temporary detention centers’ for the Declared Foreigners. These are at Goalpara, Silchar, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Tezpur, and Dibrugarh.

As on December 2019, there are 935 detainees in these six temporary detention centres across the State. Of them, 823 are ‘Declared Foreigners’ and 115 convicted foreigners. Interestingly, most of them are from Bangladesh. Besides males and females, the detainees include children as well. All the ‘Declared Foreigners’ lodged in these six temporary detention centres will be shifted to the Matia detention centre after its completion slated in December 2019.

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