Citizenship Act: Not possible to collect accurate data of illegal migrants, Centre tells SC

The number of people who were granted citizenship between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 is 17,861, the affidavit said. Further, 32,381 of those who entered the country between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 have been detected to be foreigners by an order of the Foreigners Tribunal till October 31, 2023.

Giving details of fencing of the India-Bangladesh border, it said that West Bengal shares about 2,216.7 kms of border with Bangladesh, of which 78% is fenced, and 435.504 kms remain to be covered by fence, adding that out of this, about 286.35 kms is pending due to land acquisition.

The affidavit added that “West Bengal government follows a far slower, more complex direct land purchase policy even for national security projects such as border fencing. Due to the non-cooperation from the state government regarding resolving various issues of land acquisition, considerable delays have occurred in acquiring the necessary land, thereby impeding the timely completion of fencing in West Bengal along the Indo Bangladesh border which is a vital national security project”.

The government said that “India shares 4096.7 kms of International Border (land/ riverine) with Bangladesh”. Besides West Bengal and Assam, it also passes through Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura and Assam, the affidavit said adding “the border is porous, criss-crossed by rivers, hilly and mountainous terrains”

It said that out of the 4096.7 kms, “feasible length for fence is about 3,922.243 kms and non-feasible length about 174.5 kms” and added that “to secure the Indo-Bangladesh border, Government of India has taken multi-pronged steps to complete the remaining length either by fence or by technological solutions”.

The government said that “for the entire Indo Bangladesh Border, about 81.5% fence work has been completed in feasible length and work is going on in those feasible stretches where encumbrance free site is available. Further, about 28.2% of non-feasible gaps (riverine/nallah gaps etc in Asam and Tripura) have been covered by deploying technological solutions. In remaining parts (in West Bengal, Meghalaya and Mizoram) suitable technological solutions are being explored in consultation with Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) and Central Public Works Department (CPWD)”.

The affidavit said that in addition, “keeping in view the vulnerability of the border, BSF had carried out a vulnerable mapping exercise to identify the vulnerable stretches (non- feasible stretches/stretches along existing fence) along the Indo-Bangladesh border. To cover these vulnerable stretches, Government of India had sanctioned a Low Cost Technological Solutions (LCTS), covering a total length of 281 kms along the Indo-Bangladesh Border, which is in progress and likely to be completed by September 2024”.

The Home Secretary said that “the fence work is likely to be completed in three years time (after availability of an encumbrance free site) and the technological solutions are expected to be put in place in two years time”.

On Assam, it said the state “shares approximately 263 kms International Border with Bangladesh out of which, about 210 kms have been fenced and remaining length has been covered with technological solutions”.

The SC is scheduled to take up the matter for hearing on Tuesday.