Navi Mumbai detention centre only for foreigners caught for drug crimes: Thackeray

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 24

The Maharashtra government has decided to continue work on the detention centre coming up in Navi Mumbai even as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray sought to assuage fears of the Muslim community in the state.

At a meeting of community leaders on Monday, Thackeray said Indian nationals will not be housed in these detention camps which are meant for foreigners who are caught in drug-related cases.

“There is nothing for Indians to be afraid of. Only foreign nationals sent to prison for various crimes will be kept in these detention centres till the process for deporting them is completed,” Thackeray told a delegation.

State government sources say, Thackeray pointed out cases of Africans who have been caught peddling drugs who disappear in Mumbai after completing their sentence in the absence of a detention centre.

The Chief Minister further told the delegation that the government was yet to decide on implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens in the state. Thackeray added that the Maharashtra government was waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision on CAA which is expected next month.

The Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress which are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra have stated that CAA and NRC will not be rolled out in the state.

Though there are no detention centres at the moment in Maharashtra, the Union Home Ministry had written to the state government last month for a building to be used as a detention centre. A permanent detention centre is planned in the township. A building housing a women’s shelter has now been earmarked for the temporary detention centre.

According to sources here, the building housing the temporary detention centre has been spruced up and a compound wall complete with watchtowers around has been planned.