West Bengal sets up 11 holding centres and detains 335 suspected illegal immigrants
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Kolkata: As part of a newly aggressive "detect, delete and deport" strategy, the West Bengal government has established 11 holding centres across the state, with 335 suspected illegal immigrants currently detained in these facilities, officials confirmed on Friday. The highest number of detainees, who are suspected to be either Bangladeshi nationals or Rohingyas, are being held in Basirhat in the North 24 Parganas district, which shares a border with Bangladesh.
According to senior officials, the 11 holding centres operate under both specific police districts and broader administrative district levels. Eight facilities have been set up in the police districts of Baruipur, Sundarban, Basirhat, Bongaon, Barasat, Murshidabad, Jangipur, and Krishnanagar, whilst three centres are operational in Malda, Cooch Behar, and Dakshin Dinajpur. Out of the 335 individuals currently housed in these centres across the state, 148 are men, 99 are women, and 88 are children.
The crackdown follows an official order issued on 23 May by the Foreigners’ Branch of the state Home and Hill Affairs Department. The directive instructed district magistrates to urgently build the necessary infrastructure to house apprehended foreigners and released foreign prisoners until their formal deportation processes are finalised.
Whilst officials have framed the directive as a standard procedural exercise aligned with central government guidelines, the move represents a significant political shift. It comes just days after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari publicly adopted a tougher anti-infiltration framework, declaring that his government had officially taken up the "detect, delete and deport" policy, a phrase traditionally used by the BJP in its Bengal border politics.
(Inputs from PTI)