New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal is working towards setting up two detention centres for illegal immigrants to the state. According to sources, the state government has earmarked two plots of land for the detention centres that are set to come up in the state in the next few months.
The first detention centre is being constructed at Kolkata’s New Town area, for which Mamata Banerjee’s government has allotted a piece of land. The second detention centre is likely to come up in Bongaon in the North 24 Parganas district in Bengal.
Sources in the TMC and the Bengal government said that they were looking for a piece of land in Bongaon and the plot had to be near the Block Development Office (BDO) campus in Bongaon.
A senior official from the TMC government told The Sunday Guardian that the government chose Bongaon, apart from New Town in Kolkata, because of Bongaon’s proximity to Bangladesh.
“Bongaon is just 5 km from the International Border with Bangladesh and most illegal immigrants cross over to India from the Bongaon sub-division area and Basirhat area; therefore, Bongaon is the best suitable place for us. These centres will be able to house around 200 inmates,” the senior official said.
However, West Bengal Correctional Services Minister Ujjwal Biswas, speaking to The Sunday Guardian, denied that detention centres were coming up in West Bengal.
He said, “These are not detention centres, they are correctional homes. Please do not link it with the National Register of Citizens (NRC). No detention centres are being built in Bengal.”
However, in November, Biswas had told news agency PTI that the government was indeed looking for land to set up detention camps in Bengal in accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines.
“These detention camps are being constructed adhering to the Supreme Court directives, according to which foreign nationals under trial and those convicted should not be kept with local inmates,” Biswas had said.
Asked by The Sunday Guardian about his previous statement, Biswas said, “I had been misquoted earlier. I have already said no detention camps are being made in Bengal.”
This has come at a time when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her TMC have been vehemently protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC.
However, the fact is, detention camps are being built to house the arrested illegal foreign nationals. As per international norms, foreign nationals cannot be kept in regular jails and have to be housed in separate camps before they are deported to their home country.