28 died in Assam detention camps, 3 of them from Bangladesh

A total of 28 people died of various illnesses at detention camps in Assam till November 21, only three of them had Bangladeshi address, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said at the state Assembly on November 30. 

The three Bangladeshis - Basudev Biswas, Nagen Das, and Dulal Miya - had given their addresses in Bangladesh, while the recorded addresses of the remaining 25 were different districts of Assam, said Patowary. 

When asked if any compensation has been paid to the family members of the deceased, Patowary said there is no such provision. 

The minister also said, "The Assam government has sent a proposal to the Centre to set up more detention camps in addition to the existing six, while construction for another is going on in Goalpara district," reports Republic TV, an Indian television news channel.

On November 27, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in Rajya Sabha that there were no deaths of inmates in detention centres due to fear or lack of medicines and all deaths were caused by some diseases. 

Patowary said a total of 988 people are now lodged in the six detention camps, of which 957 were declared as foreigners and 31 are their children. 

Currently, 317 inmates are in Tezpur centre, 222 in Goalpara, 195 in Jorhat, 142 in Kokrajhar, 72 in Silchar and 40 in Dibrugarh, he added. 

The government has released 935 foreigners from the detention camps and they include 86 people waiting for their deportation. 

The Supreme Court has an order that says a detainee has to be conditionally released after three years of stay in a center, he added. 

Patowary informed the House that Rs4.74 crore has been spent on maintaining the six detention camps since the establishment of the first one in 2009-10.

The minister said 12 tea tribe people have been declared as foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal and the state government will take steps as per the law.