MVA continues work on detention centre

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 15

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra is continuing work on constructing a detention centre for illegal immigrants in Navi Mumbai despite the Congress and the NCP coming out against the Union Government’s new Citizenship Amendment Act.

Sources in the state government said the detention centre is being constructed at a 450-acre plot at Nerul in Navi Mumbai. “The plot of land where a women’s shelter exists has been allotted to the Maharashtra Government by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) – the planning agency for Navi Mumbai,” a state Home Department official said.

Construction work is expected to start in the coming year after the state government’s Public Works Department issues contracts for the construction, according to sources.

The Devendra Fadnavis government had earlier this year sought a plot of land from CIDCO shortly after the Central government issued a notification asking state governments to build detention centres ahead of rolling out the National Register of Citizens across the country.

Police sources say, the building was originally planned to detain foreigners who were found overstaying in India or were caught with fake passports. “A building with modern amenities has been planned since those held under the Passport Act are presently being lodged in jails,” says an official from the Police Department.

However the Home Department plans to tweak the notification once people are required to be detained under the NRC, according to officials. The Union Government had put out a Model Detention Manual earlier this year under which every city or district with an immigration check point is required to have a detention centre to house illegal immigrants.