Manipur detects 24,475 illegal immigrants; 14,992 return to Myanmar, 9,453 remain in state

Manipur has detected 24,475 people identified by the state government as illegal immigrants, of whom 14,992 have returned to neighbouring Myanmar, while 9,453 remain in the state, Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam told the Assembly on Monday.

Konthoujam was responding to a question from Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar Singh during the ongoing Assembly session. He said the detections were recorded across three border districts — Kamjong, Tengnoupal and Chandel. The minister did not specify the period over which the detections were made.

According to the figures presented in the Assembly, Chandel accounted for the highest number, with 14,370 detections. Of these, 9,600 people had returned to Myanmar, while 4,770 remained in the district. Biometrics had been collected from 1,308 of those still there.

Kamjong recorded 6,545 detections, with 5,378 people returning to Myanmar and 1,167 remaining in temporary camps. In Tengnoupal, all 3,560 detected cases remained in the district except for 14 people who had returned to Myanmar, leaving 3,546 in the area.

The minister said the 9,453 people still in Manipur were being accommodated in temporary shelters, primarily in the border districts. The latest figures come amid continued political and administrative debate in Manipur over undocumented migration from Myanmar and the identification of migrants in the state.

with inputs from PTI