Karnataka will set up Foreigners Detention Centre: K.J. George

A serious check has commenced across Karnataka and Bangalore in particular of foreigners overstaying in violation of the Visa permit and of illegal immigrants (from Pakistan and Bangladesh) and efforts are on to deport them.

Sources in the State government told The Hindu that the Union government has issued guidelines on Visa violations and the methodology to be adopted in deporting foreign nationals.

Karnataka is merely following the directions and “we have identified nearly 1,000 foreigners who are overstaying in Bangalore.

In a recent instance, 25 Bangladeshi nationals were identified by the Bangalore police and they have since been deported,” the source said.

It is said that officers of the State Police, the Border Security Force, the Intelligence Bureau and other agencies are working in close coordination.

In compliance with a Union government direction, the State is setting up a Foreigners Detention Centre to help pick up those overstaying and lodge them in the centre until they are deported.

Several States, including Delhi and Maharashtra, have established such a centre, while others are in the process of doing so.

Minister for Home K.J. George said that the State government has established a special task force in each district to track and initiate action against foreign nationals who are overstaying.

“The State will soon establish a Foreigners Detention Centre to detain such foreign nationals in a safe atmosphere till they are deported,” he said.

The sources said that 180 Bangladeshi nationals and nine Pakistani nationals have been identified as overstaying in Karnataka and they are all in the process of being deported.

Incidentally, most of them are illegal immigrants as they neither have a passport nor a visa.

The foreigners detention centre to set up by the State will be a joint effort of the Home and the Social Welfare departments, as the subject of Law and Order is under the State list.

Mr. George has said that 34 of the 180 Bangladeshi overstaying nationals apparently came to India and settled down in Bangalore on education, medical and tourism Visas.

The rest had crossed the borders without any valid documents.

The illegal foreign nationals who would be tracked by the police would be kept in the detention centre till the completion of the deportation process.

A majority of the Bangladeshi and Pakistani immigrants illegally staying in the State are stated to be in Mandya, Mysore and Bangalore Urban and Rural districts.