Permanent Detention Centre: Dispur Again Resets Deadline to December 31

l At present, 988 illegal foreigners are being detained in six temporary detention camps

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: For completion of the permanent detention centre complex at Matia in Goalpara district, the State government has once again reset the deadline to January 31, 2020. Dispur has also directed the Assam Police Housing Corporation Limited (APHCL) — the agency reposed the project responsibility — to stick to the new deadline. This decision has been taken as there is all the likelihood that the previously set deadline of December 31, 2019 is going to be missed. The first deadline for the project was, however, August 31, this year.

At present, 988 illegal foreigners are being detained in these temporary detention camps. Of them, 317 are in Tezpur; 222 in Goalpara; 195 in Jorhat; 142 in Kokrajhar; 72 in Silchar; and 40 are in Dibrugarh. After completion of the permanent detention camp at Matia in Goalpara district, all the 988 detainees would be shifted there.

Following the project approval of MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs), the Government of Assam had directed the APHCL to carry out construction of the first full-fledged ‘permanent detention centre’ at Matia in Goalpara district. The construction cost of this detention centre is estimated at Rs 46.51 crore. Once completed, this centre — stretched across 15 bighas of land — will accommodate 3,000 detained ‘Declared Foreigners’.

The proposal for construction of a permanent detention centre was mooted on humanitarian ground so that the ‘stateless’ persons can be kept there, till a final decision on their status is taken by the authorities concerned.

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