Only 29% of Detected Foreigners Deported From Assam

GUWAHATI: Deporting illegal foreigners from Assam through proper identification is expensive. Such a reality came to the fore on the floor of the State Assembly on Monday. The demand for deportation of illegal foreigners from various organizations in the State, on the other hand, is becoming louder almost every passing day.

During the Question Hour on the floor of the State Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary Informed the House: “From 2005-06 to August 31, 2018, a total of 1,03,764 people were detected as foreigners, and only 29,829 of them (29 per cent) could’ve been deported. This apart, 938 identified foreigners have been lodged in detention camps. However, for identification and deportation of these foreigners, the State exchequer had to cough up Rs 148 crore during the period. This is apart from Rs 5 crore that was spent by Dispur for food and other needs of foreigners staying in the detention camps during the period.”

According to Patowary, statistics regarding different batches of foreigners who entered the State is quite messy. “We’ve no clear-cut records as to how many foreigners did enter Assam from 1966-71 and after 1971. Such a situation leaves enough scopes for foreigners to do the vanishing act. To put an end to such a messy situation, the Border Police, the State Election Department and Foreigners Tribunals have been preparing a common data base of all foreigners – detected ones and those under trial.”

Foreigners declared as Indians by Foreigners Tribunals are being scrutinized by the State Scrutiny Committee. Such a system is prevalent in the State as declaration of a suspected foreigner as an Indian goes directly against the State government’s action, and as such it is imperative on the part of the government to ascertain where it has gone wrong. MLA Kamalakshya Dey Purkayastha of the Congress raised the demand for such a committee for those who are declared foreigners by the tribunals as well since a large number of such judgments are ex parte. “In the past ten years, as many as 57,384 of the 1,03,764 people were declared foreigners ex parte,” he said, and added: “As many as 32,860 were identified as infiltrators between 1966 and 1971.

Such infiltrators, according to the Assam Accord, ceased to be voters for ten years after which they were supposed to get voting rights on the condition that they were to register themselves with the FRRO office. However, because of ignorance, many of such people have not registered themselves with the FRRO office.”

On the sealing of the riverine border with Bangladesh, Patowary informed the House: “Works are on to seal the 48-km riverine border with optic fibre cable. Once optic fibre cable is placed along the riverine border, any objects passing over it will be seen in the camera as is the case with CCTV cameras. Such a device will let BSF personnel guard the riverine border by staying at one point.”

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