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Newsroom, Feb 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement that there is no detention camp in India is no more a lie. That doesn’t mean that there are no detention camps in the country, but the name of the camps have changed. 

In December, at a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan, meant to launch the BJP's campaign for the assembly elections in Delhi, Mr Modi had stated: “The rumour of detention centres being spread by the Congress and urban Naxals is totally false. This is being done with a bad intention to destroy the country, it’s filled with evil motives; this is a lie, lie, lie.” He had further claimed: “Neither are any of the country’s Muslims being sent to detention centres nor is there any detention centre in India”

In reality there are at least six detention camps in jails in Assam to house foreigners found staying in India illegally. A month prior to PM’s statement, Union minister of the state for home affairs Nityanand Rai had revealed that the six camps in Assam housed 1,043 foreigners — 1,025 Bangladeshis and 18 Myanmarese. Apart from these, at least ten new detention centres are coming up.

Outside Assam too, the Maharashtra government, under the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, had identified land for the state’s first detention centre for illegal immigrants.

Besides, in a case relating to illegal immigrants in Karnataka High Court in November this year, the Centre had told the court that it had written to all state governments in 2014 and sent a follow-up letter in 2018 to have detention centres to house foreign nationals illegally staying in India.

Karnataka’s first detention centre, apparently meant to lodge illegal immigrants and migrants overstaying in the country, is already open in Sondekoppa village on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The facility with several rooms, a kitchen and toilets has been kept ready on the directions of the government. 

Meanwhile, Union Minister of state for home Nityanand Rai has told the Lok Sabha that the name "detention centre" has now been changed to "holding centre".

Mangalore, Jan 12: City police on Sunday arrested five people for their alleged involvement in a Rs 50 crore fraud by promising people higher monetary returns.

Police said that the arrested persons are Manjunath Nayak, a resident of Derebail; Denzil Mascarenhas, a Konchady resident; Ashok Naik, a Derebail resident; Vikas Nayak and Vishwanath Naik both residents of Bengaluru were arrested.

The arrested were employed in the ‘Speak and Group’ concern, started by Dhanush M K of Kundapur along with his friends. The firm had managed to collect huge sums of money from people, including NRIs by promising monthly four percent returns on their investment. The employees managed to entice people by showing them a few insurance schemes claiming higher returns.

Bengaluru, May 17: Left to itself, Karnataka will look to spring back towards normalcy under Lockdown 4.0 as the state government is on standby to resume public transport services from May 18, if the Centre allows it. 

Though KSRTC and BMTC have been preparing for resumption of services, officials in the two corporations told DH that they cannot make a move till the government makes a decision.

Transport Commissioner N Shivakumar said the department will take a decision based on the state government's orders. "The government will take a call on buses as well as taxi and other transport services," he said.

Senior officials in the state government said Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari seeking a nod for resumption of the services. 

Transport Secretary Gaurav Gupta has written a separate letter to his counterpart in the Union government requesting permission to operate public transport. "The state government wants the services to open. The official has listed out the steps the corporations will take to ensure social distancing other steps that will be taken to check spread of Coronavirus," a source said.

The B S Yediyurappa administration has been bullish on easing lockdown restrictions. 

If the Centre empowers the states to define Lockdown 4.0, Karnataka is likely to do away with the red-orange-green zoning of districts and allow public services to resume, except in COVID-19 containment zones. The government is also likely to redefine its containment strategy by micromanaging localities where COVID-19 cases are reported, without letting life in an entire district get affected. 

The government has already shown willingness to allow hotels and gyms to open after May 17 subject to social distancing norms and restrictions. In fact, the government has proposed to allow the resumption of all economic activities in standalone establishments. The government, however, is not keen on opening malls, theatres, diners and establishments that have centralized air conditioning. 

“Everything depends on the Centre,” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said. “Our only stand is that the red zone should be treated at par with the other zone when it comes to relaxation.”