Kerala CM halts work underway on detention centre, claims 'will create panic in citizens'

Kerala Chief Minister has instructed that work should cease on a detention centre that was underway to temporarily hold foreign nationals facing cases in Kerala. The department of Social Justice(DSJ) in Kerala had sought the total number of such cases from the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB).

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Kerala govt halts work on detention centre

Stating that building a detention centre, even to only hold foreign nationals who commit crimes on Indian soil will alarm citizens of Kerala, the chief minister has ordered that work on the same should be put on hold. Instructions for the detention centre had been given by the centre in the year 2012 when the UPA was in power. 

Last week, Pinarayi Vijayan had announced that Kerala will halt all activities related to the National Population Register(NPR) citing similar reasons. Now, even as the DSJ was in the process of determining the size of the structure of the detention centre, the government has put the project on the back burner.

The DSJ had written to the SCRB to obtain the total number of foreign nationals with cases ‘for restricting the movement of illegal immigrants/foreign nationals awaiting deportation’. Since June 2019, a number of letters had been written, the latest one sent on November 26.

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Detention Centre work

Basis a central government circular, the home department had entrusted the task of setting up detention/holding centre to DSJ. Once the average number of inmates is given to the DSJ, the department would proceed with determining a building structure to house the detention centre either by renting an already existing structure or converting a suitable government building/hostel or by constructing a new building for the same purposes. 

The detention centre would be to hold those foreign nationals who have illegally entered and are living in India, those whose valid documents like visa, work permits and passports have expired and those who have committed any crime in Indian soil. 

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The project was currently at a nascent stage with data collection still being in the process but has now been frozen post instructions from the chief minister. Government officials claim that this structure had no links at all to NRC but since the Chief Minister feels that it could send an ambiguous message regarding the state’s stand on NRC and create panic, work will be stopped till further clarity is given. A similar structure has been built in the neighbouring state of Karnataka during the tenure of the coalition government of Congress-JDS.

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