By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : Those who have been rejected by the tribunals and have exhausted all other legal avenues can be declared foreigners and — in theory — be placed in one of six detention centres with a view to possible deportation, although Bangladesh is yet to signal its cooperation. Ten new such camps have been announced. One with space for 3,000 is being constructed in Goalpara, west of Assam’s capital Guwuhati. The camps currently hold 1,135 people, according to the state government, and have been operating for years.

The number of errors has also turned some in the BJP in Assam against the process, with Himanta Biswa Sarma, a BJP minister in the state, saying it had left off “so many genuine Indians”. “We have lost hope in the present form of the NRC,” Sarma told reporters, saying that the party was already mulling a “fresh strategy on how we can drive out the illegal migrants”. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has assured that those whose names have been excluded from the NRC will get an oppurtunity to file their appeal and be heard in the Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) as per the direction of the Union Home Ministry.”The fact that the extension of filing an appeal from 60 days to 120 days to the FT, will help all excluded persons to enjoy a level playing field”, he said. “Nobody will be subjected to any unnecessary harassment,” the CM said. The home ministry had planned to set up a total of 1,000 foreigners tribunal in phases; as of now, 100 foreigners tribunals are functioning. People who may be excluded from the final NRC can approach any one of these tribunals for inclusion of their names. Sonowal assured people that the state government will provide legal aid to poor people in their fight against exclusion from the NRC so that they can pursue their cases in foreigners tribunals and in higher courts.