First permanent detention centre for illegal foreigners in Assam within March

DECLARED FOREIGNERS

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The first full-fledged permanent detention centre for illegal foreigners in Assam will be completed by the Assam Police Housing Corporation Limited (APHCL) within March.

The civil work part including the buildings for the detenues, staff quarters, hospital, and school have been completed. A few other construction items — including the prefabricated barrack — are on their way from Visakhapatnam.

Talking to The Sentinel, APHCL Managing Director Arabinda Kalita said, “We had set the target of February 2020 to complete the project on 20 bighas of land at Matia in Goalpara district. However owing to the delay in arrival of a few important items, the deadline is shifted to March.”

According to Home & Political Department sources, all the ‘Declared Foreigners’ presently being kept in the temporary detention centres within the various district jails across the State will be shifted in a phased manner to the permanent detention centre after its inauguration.

The original target for completion of the permanent detention centre was August 31, 2019.

The construction cost of this detention centre is estimated at Rs 46.51 crore. Once completed, this centre will accommodate 3,000 detained ‘Declared Foreigners’.

Earlier, the State government had notified six district jails as ‘temporary detention centers’ for the detained illegal foreigners. More than 950 such persons are now being kept in these detention centres that are being run from six district jails across the State. These temporary detention centres are at Goalpara, Silchar, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Tezpur, and Dibrugarh.

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