Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Hours after Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, tweeted on Wednesday, that the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in New Delhi will be given apartments and provided with police protection, India’s home ministry has denied giving such instructions saying the refugees would be held at a detention centre and eventually deported.
Puri said in a tweet that, “India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision all Rohingya refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs and round-the-clock Delhi Police protection.”
Puri also said that India respects and follows the UN Refugee Convention 1951.
The news agency ANI also reported quoting the officials that around 1,100 Rohingya refugees presently living in the Madanpur Khadar camp will soon get a roof over their heads in Delhi equipped with basic amenities and round-the-clock security.
The decision has been taken during a high-level meeting that was held in the national capital in July over the accommodation of Rohingya refugees, informed ANI.
But hours after Puri’s tweet and a section of media carried the news, the federal home ministry, headed by Amit Shah, denied the media reports.
The ministry also said “illegal foreigners” will be kept in a detention centre till they are deported to Myanmar. “The (state) government of Delhi has not declared the present location as a detention centre. They have been directed to do the same immediately,” it said.
The MHA has directed the Delhi government to ensure that the Rohingya illegal foreigners remain at their present location as it has already taken up the matter of their deportation with the country concerned through the Ministry of External Affairs.
“The illegal foreigners are to be kept in the detention centre till their deportation as per law. The government of Delhi has not declared the present location as a detention centre. They have been directed to do the same immediately,” the Ministry spokesperson said, according to reports.
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Cover photo: A Rohingya refugee family rests in a temporary shelter after a fire destroyed a Rohingya refugee camp in New Delhi, on June 14, 2021. — Danish Siddiqui / Reuters
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