GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3217

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 21ST MARCH, 2017/ PHALGUNA 30, 1938 (SAKA)

ILLEGAL STAY OF IMMIGRANTS

3217. SHRI ANANTKUMAR HEGDE:

          DR. BHOLA SINGH:

          DR. RAVINDRA BABU:

          SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

          SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA:

          SHRIMATI VASANTHI M.:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state: 

(a) whether the Supreme Court has recently taken a serious view of the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam and other parts of the country and directed the Government for taking steps to deport them;

(b) if so, the number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants staying in various parts of the country, State-wise;

(c) the reaction of the Government on the remarks made by the Supreme Court;

(d) the number of other foreign nationals including Nepalis staying illegally in the country, country-wise and State-wise; and

(e) the measures taken to identify and deport such immigrants and the number of foreigners deported during each of the last three years and the current year, country-wise?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a): Hon'ble Supreme Court in the judgement dated 17th December, 2014 in WP 562/2012 on the issue relating to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and their deportation, passed various directions to the Government of India including direction to enter into necessary discussions with the Government of Bangladesh to streamline the procedure of deportation. 

(b): There are reports of Bangladeshi nationals having entered the country without valid travel documents. Since entry of such Bangladeshi nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, accurate data of such cases is not available .

(c): The issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh to India is discussed at several bilateral meetings such as Joint Working Group on Security, Director General level talks between Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Home Secretary level talks etc. India and Bangladesh have put in place a Coordinated Border Management Plan to address problems arising from illegal border crossing. 

(d) & (e): Deportation of illegally staying foreign nationals is a continuous process. The power of identification, detention and deportation of illegal foreign nationals have been delegated to the State Governments and Union Territories Administration under Section 3(2) (c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946. As per information available from the security agency, the number of registered foreigners, including Nepalis, overstaying in India during 2014, 2015 and 2016 were 28356, 6078 and 7685 respectively. About 6765 foreigners were deported during the last three years.