The Maharashtra home department wrote to CIDCO last week, seeking a 450-square meter plot in Nerul to construct a detention centre for illegal immigrants.

The Maharashtra government has reportedly sought land in the Nerul area of Navi Mumbai to build a detention centre to house illegal immigrants.

The home department wrote to the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) last week, seeking a 450-square meter plot. A shelter for women in distress is said to be presently operational at the plot.

While sources in the home department refused to divulge the exact location of the plot, a CIDCO official told Hindustan Times that the plot is located near SBI Colony in Nerul.

“The home department has asked CIDCO for plot No 14, in Sector 5 of Nerul, admeasuring 450 square meres. The plot had been given to the NGO Savli Sanstha in July 2001 by CIDCO,” the official said.

The news comes on the back of the publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list in Assam. However, a senior official has claimed that there is no connection between the NRC and the proposed detention centre in Navi Mumbai.

"Seeking land for the detention centre has no link with NRC. It is an old proposal moved by the Mumbai Police as they want it for the illegal passport cases under which the offender has to be detained until the individual’s status is determined,” Hindustan Times quoted Brijesh Singh, senior IPS officer and state government’s spokesperson, as saying.

Principal Secretary (Special), Home, Amitabh Gupta told Mumbai Mirror that the process for the identification of the plot was initiated in July after the Union government sent a notification to the states in this regard. The 2019 Model Detention Manual states that every city or district which has an immigration check point must have an immigration center. It further states that such centers must be equipped with all amenities to house illegal immigrants till they are deported.

While this would be the first such detention centre in Maharshtra, work is underway to construct a detention centre in the Goalpara district of Assam. Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant had inaugurated a detention center in May this year.