Assam govt shifts all 'declared foreigners' from 6 detention centres to dedicated transit camp

The Assam government on Sunday completed a process of shifting declared foreigners to a newly built dedicated detention centre, now renamed as transit camp, in Goalpara district, a senior official said.Assam Inspector General of Prisons Pubali Gohain told PTI that the last batch of 87 inmates from Silchar detention centre was taken to the dedicated Matia transit camp.The inmates started their journey from Silchar on Saturday and reached Goalpara today.

The Assam government on Sunday completed a process of shifting ''declared foreigners'' to a newly built dedicated detention centre, now renamed as transit camp, in Goalpara district, a senior official said.

Assam Inspector General of Prisons Pubali Gohain told PTI that the last batch of 87 inmates from Silchar detention centre was taken to the dedicated Matia transit camp.

''The inmates started their journey from Silchar on Saturday and reached Goalpara today. With this, the process of shifting all declared foreigner inmates lodged in the six transit camps has been completed,'' she said.

Of the 87 ''declared foreigners'', 64 are from Myanmar, 22 from Bangladesh and one from Senegal, another senior official said.

The process of shifting the inmates to the Matia camp began on January 27 with transferring of 68 ''declared foreigners'' from the Goalpara detention centre.

As the shifting process completes, the six detention centres will no longer exist, Gohain said.

Altogether 217 ''declared foreigners'' are lodged at the new transit camp in Matia at this moment, Goalpara Deputy Commissioner Khanindra Choudhury said.

''This figure changes very frequently with court verdicts and the deportation of foreigners. Just three days ago, three Bangladeshis were sent back to their country from the Matia camp,'' he told PTI.

The Matia dedicated transit camp is monitored and controlled by the Goalpara district administration.

Prior to the new facility at Matia, Assam had six transit camps, which were created by using a part of the existing jails in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Silchar, Dibrugarh and Tezpur.

The government constructed the first dedicated centre at Matia in Goalpara district to lodge the suspected and declared foreigners found in Assam. The new camp can accommodate 3,000 inmates, including 400 females.

The Goalpara transit camp has been built on 22 bighas of land (over 7 acres) in West Matia at an expenditure of Rs 46 crore. The construction work began in December 2018. However, the Gauhati High Court, in August 2021, gave 45 days to the Assam government to complete the construction work of the facility.

The transit camp has a total of 15 buildings, including two for women. Each of these units can accommodate 200 inmates.

The facility has been provided with hospitals, schools, recreation centres, dining and other amenities.

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