New Delhi: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it is not possible to collect accurate data of such illegal migrants living in various parts of the country, since the entry of illegal immigrants into India “is clandestine and surreptitious”.
The affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs said illegal migrants enter into the country without valid travel documents in a clandestine and surreptitious manner.
“The detection, detention, and deportation of such illegally staying foreign nationals is a complex ongoing process”, said the affidavit in response to a direction by the apex court seeking details of the “estimated inflow of illegal migrants” to Assam and other north eastern states after March 25, 1971.
“Since entry of such foreign nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to collect accurate data of such illegal migrants living in various parts of the country”, said the affidavit.
The Home Secretary’s affidavit said that 17861 persons who had come into Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 were granted citizenship. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said that, however, a total of 14346 foreigners were deported between 2017 and 2022, due to reasons like overstay, visa violation, illegal entry etc.
The Centre said 32,381 of those who entered the country between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 have been detected to be foreigners by an order of the Foreigners Tribunal under the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964 till October 31, 2023.
The affidavit has been filed in the Supreme Court which is hearing petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A which was inserted in the Citizenship Act, 1955, following the signing of the Assam accord.
On the aspect of border fencing, the Centre said for the entire Indo-Bangladesh border, about 81.5% fence work has been completed in feasible length and about 28.2% of non-feasible gaps (riverine/nallah gaps etc in Assam and Tripura) have been covered by deploying technological solutions. “State of Assam shares approximately 263 Kms international border with Bangladesh. Out of which, about 210 Kms has been covered by fence and remaining non-feasible length has been covered with technological solutions”, said the affidavit.
The Centre said that West Bengal shares about 2216.7 Kms of border with Bangladesh, of which 78% of the border of feasible length is covered with a fence. It further added that a feasible length of 435.504 Kms remains to be covered by fence and about 286.35 Kms is pending due to land acquisition.
“West Bengal Government follows a far slower, more complex Direct Land Purchase Policy even for national security projects such as border fencing. Due to the non- cooperation from State Government regarding resolving various issues of Land Acquisition, considerable delays have occurred in acquiring the necessary land, thereby impeding the timely completion of fencing in West Bengal along Indo Bangladesh border which is a vital national security project”, said the affidavit.
The apex court is scheduled to take up the matter for hearing on Tuesday.
