Karnataka: Detention Centre For Illegal Foreigners Coming Up Near Bengaluru

A detention centre to keep illegal foreigners till they are deported is coming up at Nelamangala in Karnataka's Bengaluru Rural district, a police official said on Saturday (19 October).

"A state-run hostel is being converted into a detention centre to keep illegal foreign nationals for deportation to their respective countries," Bengaluru Rural Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohan Kumar told IANS on phone.

Nelamangala is about 40km northwest of Bengaluru towards Tumakuru on the national highway #4 towards Pune and Mumbai.

"The 8-room ground floor building with open space in the compound will be modified to suit the needs of a detention centre and fortified for fool-proof security, with closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs), floodlights, barbed fence and a surveillance system to monitor the movement of detainees and their activity," Kumar said.

To be the first of its kind in the southern state, the centre is strategically located, as it is nearer to the Bengaluru international airport at Devanahalli in the same district for early deportation.

"It is early to say when it will be ready for making it operational and housing the illegal foreign nationals. For security reasons and space constraints, the government has decided to locate the detention centre at Nelamangala, which is closer to Bengaluru," a district official told IANS.

State Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, however, told reporters here on Thursday that the detention centre would be made operational soon.

Bommai favoured having a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Karnataka on the lines of it in Assam to detect, identify and deport foreign nationals like Bangladeshis, overstaying in the state, especially in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Gulbarga and Bidar.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has recently indicated that the Central government would hold a nationwide exercise across the country to identify and deport foreign nationals overstaying in India illegally without citizenship or after their visas lapse.

"Though there are not so many illegal foreign nationals in Karnataka as in a few states in the north or east, some of them are detected and identified in our state for overstaying after their visas expire," a police official said.

Ruling BJP Lok Sabha member from Bangalore Central told a national news channel on Friday that as there were many illegal Bangladeshis living in the state, especially Bengaluru, the detention centre would enable the police to detain them for early deportation.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)