NRC Aftermath: India's First Illegal Immigrant Detention Centre Comes Up in Assam

For the first time in history of independent India, the government is building detention centres for illegal immigrants. A direct fallout of the NRC final list, which was published on August 31st, the government is planning to construct 10 such detention camps in Assam. Now, several reports have come out in public about one such detention centre that is being constructed in Goalpara district, about 150 km from Assam capital city Guwahati. Built at cost of Rs 46 crore, the construction began of the camp began last year. Due to heavy rains and floods, the deadline of completion has been pushed till December.

Spread in area of 2.5 hectares, which is equivalent to seven football fields, the detention camp will be surrounded by barbed boundaries. Inside the camp, there will be watchtowers to look over the ‘foreigners.’ "The work on this project started in December 2018, our target is to complete it by December 2019. It's being done at an expense of around Rs 46 Crore," Junior Engineer (JE) Rabin Das was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “15 four-storey buildings being built-13 for men, 2 for women. It'll have separate toilets, hospital, kitchen, dining area, recreational area and school. There'll be buildings for officers and grade 4 staff. It'll have 2 security barracks. Water system will have capacity of 50,000 litres,” Das added.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee Warns BJP Not To Play With ‘Fire’ In Name Of NRC

On August 31st, Assam’s final NRC list was published by the authorities. As many as 1.9 lakh citizens were stripped of the citizenship. On the other hand, over 3 crore citizens are part of the final list. The Supreme Court-monitored NRC update exercise published first draft in July last year. The final list can be termed as the supplementary list of the draft published in July last year. The 2019 list will contain the exact status of the people left out in the 2018 draft.

Also Read: Sitting MLA, Kargil Veteran Left Out Of Final Assam NRC List

While Opposition has been saying that Modi govt is extending its ‘Hindu agenda’ via NRC, the Centre has lamented that it is merely abiding by the directions of the Supreme Court. Amid growing clamour, India has repeatedly assured nations on world stage that the NRC exercise is very ‘transparent’. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is a statutory, transparent, non-discriminatory legal process mandated and being monitored by the Supreme Court, India said at the UNHRC being held at the Switzerland city of Geneva.     

HIGHLIGHTS

• Assam is the only Indian state that is carrying out NRC exercise.
• Last National Register of Citizenship in Assam was updated in 1951.
• Ministry of External Affairs has said those excluded will enjoy all rights.