Anticipating the possible requirement to house a large number of illegal foreigners as the deadline for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) finalisation draws close, the Assam government is preparing to construct ten more detention centres.
A detailed project report for ten more detention centres will be shortly sent to the Centre for its approval. The sites for the new detention centres have been identified as well.
It may be mentioned here that Assam has six detention centres which function at various district jails. The first exclusive detention centre is under construction in Goalpara, which is being constructed at cost of around Rs 460 million and has a capacity to house 3000 persons.
It is almost a certainty that the number of declared foreigners will increase after the final and since, as of now, there is still no clarity or policy on what would be done with those out of NRC hence this step has been taken so that the authorities are ready to face any situations.
It is worth mentioning here that the final NRC list is due on July 31, 2019. Those who find their names missing from the list will, however, have the option of approaching the foreigners' tribunals to prove their Indian citizenship or the tribunal could declare them a foreigner.
Here it can be mentioned that the Assam government is establishing 200 more foreigners' tribunals by September 1 and another 200 in the subsequent three months to deal with NRC appeals and references.
For those who do not appeal on their own, the state government will refer them.
It is worth mentioning here that even after over a month has passed after the Supreme Court ordered the conditional release of declared foreigners who have completed three years in detention, they, however, are yet to be released.
Here it may be mentioned here that the Border police is yet to receive formal instructions about the release of around 200 persons who have been in detention for three or more years. The numbers can even increase
