Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that there were no detention centres for illegal immigrants in the country, the construction of the biggest detention centre at Matia in Assam’s Goalpara district is on the verge of completion and is likely to be ready by March 31st, 2020.

The country’s first exclusive detention camp is spread over 28,800 sq ft of land and can accommodate 3,000 illegal immigrants. An amount of around Rs 47 crore has been sanctioned by the Home Ministry to construct the camp for people declared foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs).

Also read: Things You Should Know About India’s First Exclusive Detention Camp In Assam’s Goalpara

As per the locals, around 70 per cent of the construction work has been completed. All facilities like schools, community hall, electricity, etc will be available in this one-of-its-kind detention camp. The construction work began in 2018.

There are six detention camps in Assam and are housed within district jails. The camps are in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Tezpur. The ‘foreigners’ are lodged separately from the other inmates in these camps.

Also read: Only 3 B’deshis Among 28 Who Died In Assam Detention Camps

Addressing a mammoth rally in Delhi’s iconic Ramlila Maidan on December 22nd, 2019, Modi accused the Congress and “urban Naxals” of spreading rumours about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, National Register of Citizens and detention centres.

“Congress aur urban Naxals ke dwara udai gayi detention centres ka afwa, sara sar jhooth hai. Bad iraade wali hai, desh ko barbad karne wali hai, ye napak irada se bhari hai, ye jhooth hai, jhooth hai, jhooth hai (Congress and urban Naxals are spreading rumours about detention centres. It is totally false. This is being done with a bad intention to destroy the country, it’s filled with evil intention; this is a lie, lie, lie).”

“Koi desh ke Musalamano ko na detention centre bheja jaa raha hai, na Hindustan me koi detention centre hai. Ye safed jhoot hai…. (Neither are any of the country’s Muslims being sent to detention centres nor is there any detention centre in India. It’s a white lie),” PM added.

Check out the photos of the construction work of the detention camp

Photo: @monzuralom