RS discusses Assam detention centres, parking woes

New Delhi: Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Friday suggested that the government should carry out a systematic survey of those held in detention centres. This, he said, would help identify those held for over three years so that they can be provided legal recourse as is mandated by the law.

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During his Zero Hour intervention in the Rajya Sabha, Ramesh said that during a visit to detention centres in Silchar, Assam, he found senior citizens as well as minors in the detention centres set up for illegal immigrants.

“Out of these 72 foreigners, seven were from Myanmar, 17 from Bangladesh and 48 claimed to be Indian citizens. Many of those claiming to be Indian citizens had been state government employees,” Ramesh said.

Quoting the reply of Union home minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha where he said there were six detention centres for foreigners in Assam and 988 foreigners were detained in these detention centres, Ramesh said, “I am not pleading the case of illegal migrants. I am pleading the case of those who are claiming to be Indian citizens who, because of the fact that they did not have proper documents because they moved from place to place in search of jobs, find themselves in jails.”

BJP leader Vijay Goel raised the issue of inadequate parking in Delhi and said it leads to fights and casualties. “Parking-related disputes result in killing of one person every month; the Delhi Police get as many as 250 calls every day pertaining to parking-related disputes. Earlier there was road rage, now there will be parking rage,” he said, speaking during Zero Hour.

He suggested the building of new parking facilities in the city-state because in the years to come, it could emerge as a major problem. Among other suggestions, he proposed to improve the public transport system in the capital.

Several MPs also raised the issue of climate change and its impact on agriculture. While PDP’s Nazir Laway said sudden snowfall had wreaked havoc on fruit growers in Kashmir, Ambumani Ramadoss of the PMK said the government must consider declaring “climate emergency”.