The mass detention centre in Goalpara district's Matia can house 3,000 people Reuters

India's 1st illegal immigrant detention camp is roughly the size of 7 football fields

Construction is a go to build India's first detention centre for those declared alien after the publication of the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) in August.

The list left out around 1.9 million people, leaving them to prove their citizenship.

The detention centre in Goalpara district's Matia can house around 3,000 people, and is being over an area of 2.5 hectares - roughly the size of seven football fields, reports NDTV.

The construction project for the mega detention centre, that costs Rs46 crore (nearly $7 million), began last year and is being done by the Assam Police Housing Corporation Limited

The detention centre will consist of 15 four storey buildings, and is expected to be completed by December.

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It will also have a hospital, an auditorium, a common kitchen, and 180 toilets and washroom. There will also be a primary school just outside the detention centre.

The detention centre will also have watchtowers, with the a red-painted boundary wall circling the entire camp, with an outer wall of 20ft, and an inner wall of 6ft.

But officials are quick to point out that the Goalpara detention centre will not be as rigid as a regular jail. A senior police officer in Assam said there will be hostel-type rooms, each of which can accommodate four to five detainees. The rooms, the officer said, will have regular doors, proper lighting, and ventilation.

"Special attention is to be given to women/nursing mothers and children," Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said in parliament in July. "Children lodged in detention centres are to be provided educational facilities in nearby local schools."

The centre said people whose names do not appear in the NRC cannot be declared alien till all legal options are exhausted. Every person left out of the NRC can appeal to the Foreigners Tribunal and subsequently approach the courts. The time limit to file the appeal has been extended from 60 to 120 days.

If those who have been left out of the crucial list are not able to prove their citizenship before the deadline ends, they will be taken to the detention centre. Ten such centres have been proposed in Assam.