Guwahati, Jul 8: Over 36,000 people have been declared foreigners in the five years since 2021, and only 196 of them have been repatriated to Bangladesh so far, the Assembly was informed on Wednesday.
In a written reply to a query by Congress MLA Mohibur Rohman, Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora said a total of 36,358 persons have been declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) since 2021 to May 2026.
“Out of them, 196 people have been repatriated to Bangladesh from Assam,” he added.
Giving year-wise breakups, Bora said 7,151 foreigners were declared in 2021, followed by 9,028 in 2022, 6,859 in 2023, 6,178 in 2024, 5,106 in 2025 and 2036 in 2026 so far.
As per legal provisions, only the Foreigners Tribunals can declare a person a foreigner in Assam, and subsequently, higher courts can be approached if the verdict is not favourable.
According to the Assam Accord, the names of all foreigners coming to Assam on or after March 25, 1971, would be detected, deleted from the electoral rolls, and steps would be taken to deport them.
The Assembly witnessed noisy scenes after Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi asked Bora about the exact number of illegal foreigners living in Assam presently.
When Bora said that no data is available with him to table in the Assembly at the moment, the opposition legislator said why the House should listen to “everything” being uttered by the minister. (PTI)
