http://t.co/i1VeGTbT
Assam deported only 134 Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in past 2 yrs
Vishwa Mohan ,TNN | Sep 18, 2012, 02.09AM IST 
NEW DELHI: Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants seem to having a free run in Assam. The border state has deported only 134 illegal immigrants to Bangladesh in the past two years, even though the Tribunals, tasked with detecting the foreigners, had found as many as 5,652 offenders between 2010 and 2012.
Assam government has recently informed the Union home ministry that 36 existing Tribunals had declared 4,787 as "illegal immigrants" who came to the state on or after March 25, 1971.
Besides, 865 people — who were part of pre-1971 stream of illegal migration — were also declared "foreigners" by the Tribunals under the Foreigners Act, 1946. But, nearly 97% of them went missing after being declared "illegal migrants".
"The dismal record of deportation, where only 134 of 5,652 people were deported, is an indication of the futility of the whole exercise when most of those declared illegal immigrants just vanished into thin air," said an official.
He said the state would not only have to fast-track the entire process of identification, but also have to constantly keep a tab on those whose cases were pending before the Tribunals.
The disclosure of dismal record of deportation from Assam was made at the time when over 3.10 lakh cases of suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are pending at the Tribunals in the state.
The gap between the number of people who were deported and those who were identified as illegal immigrants may just be a tip of iceberg if one looks at the figure of those Bangladeshis who visited India "legally" but went missing after expiry of their travel documents (visa) during the same period.
Figures, available with the home ministry, show that 58,932 Bangladeshi nationals, who entered India legally during 2009-11, did not return. Though the figure of detection and deportation of such Bangladeshi nationals is higher than those who entered illegally by crossing the unguarded border, the gap is still quite high.
Immigration figures show that only 23,653 out of total 82,585 Bangladeshi citizens could be traced and deported between 2009 and 2011, leaving whereabouts of 58,932 of them unknown.
Amid the growing demand for detection of illegal immigrants, the Assam government has requested the home ministry for 64 more Tribunals and reasoned that the additional ones would help settle more than 3.10 lakh pending cases.
"We will send a proposal to the finance ministry for approval," a home ministry official said. Around Rs 22 lakh per annum is estimated to be the expense for each Tribunal - comprising two judges — that functions under the Foreigners Act, 1946................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JSi8yMDEyLzA5LzIwI0FyMDA5MDA=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
No comments:
Post a Comment