11 holding centres set up in Bengal, 335 suspected ‘infiltrators’ lodged

Kolkata: As part of its “detect, delete and deport” policy, the West Bengal government has so far set up 11 holding centres for suspected illegal immigrants, and 335 detainees are currently being housed in such facilities, officials said on Friday, May 29.

Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district, bordering Bangladesh, accounts for the largest number of detainees suspected to be either Bangladeshis or Rohingyas, they said.

“Till now, 11 holding centres have been opened in different parts of the state. Some of these are functioning under police districts, while others are operating at the district level,” a senior official told PTI.

Eight such facilities are in Baruipur, Sundarban, Basirhat, Bongaon, Barasat, Murshidabad, Jangipur and Krishnanagar police districts, while three centres have been opened in Malda, Cooch Behar and Dakshin Dinajpur districts.

“A total of 335 people are currently being housed in these holding centres across the state. Of them, 148 are men, 99 are women, and 88 are children,” another official said.

An order, issued by the state Home and Hill Affairs Department’s Foreigners’ Branch on May 23, asked district magistrates to create the infrastructure required to house “apprehended foreigners” and “released foreign prisoners” until deportation formalities are completed.

Though framed as a procedural exercise aligned with central guidelines, the directive comes days after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari publicly rolled out a tougher anti-infiltration framework.

He declared that his government had adopted the “detect, delete and deport” policy, a phrase long embedded in the BJP’s Bengal vocabulary on infiltration and border politics.