The Maharashtra government has identified land to build the state’s first detention centre for illegal immigrants, Mumbai Mirror reported on Saturday.
The home department last week reportedly wrote to CIDCO, the planning authority for Navi Mumbai, seeking a 3-acre plot in Nerul for the detention centre.
This comes days after more than 19 lakh people were left out of the final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The exact location of the centre is not known yet, but the report said the plot has a structure which was till recently used by a NGO.
Amitabh Gupta, Principal Secretary (special), Home, said the process to identify the land for the detention centre was started in July, when the Union government sent instructions to all state governments in this regard.
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The model detention manual released by the government states that every city or district which has a major immigration post must have a detention centre.
“There are large number of illegal immigrants, especially Bangladeshi,” an official from the home department in Maharashtra told Mumbai Mirror.
The official said the proposed detention centre would not be like a jail. “It will have all the facilities detainees are entitled to,” he said.
In July, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that his government will ensure that all illegal immigrants are identified and deported.
