The foreigners tribunals in Assam have declared 1,43,466 people as “foreigners” till December 31, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The minister added that 329 of the persons declared as “foreigners” have been deported to their countries till February 1.
In response to a question by Communist Party of India’s Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam, Rai said that there were 1,23,829 pending cases across 100 foreigners tribunals in Assam.
Foreigners tribunals are quasi judicial bodies which decide on matters of disputed nationality.
Viswam had also asked the home ministry to provide details of the number of detention centres built in the country and the number of people housed in them. In response, Rai said that there was no such data available with the central government
However, he added that state governments and Union Territory administrations have the power to make arrangements for detention centres or camps, according to their requirement. Rai said that the home ministry has allocated Rs 69 crore over the last three financial years (2019-’20 to and 2021-’22), for functioning of foreigners tribunals.
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