*Mumbai: BJP government plans another step against Indian Muslims asdetention centres are going to open in India for illegal Muslim immigrants.*

The Maharashtra Home Ministry has reportedly written to the Navi Mumbaiplanning authority asking for land on which to build a detention centre forillegal immigrants. The news, confirmed by sources within the authority,comes less than a fortnight after the final NRC list in Assam declared 19lakh people as foreigners and raises the possibility of a similar exercisein the country’s second most populous state.

According to sources within the City and Industrial Development Corporation(CIDCO) of Maharashtra, they have received a letter seeking atwo-to-three-acre plot in Nerul, a residential and commercial neighbourhoodin Navi Mumbai that is approximately 20 kilometres from Mumbai.

The ministry has denied sending any such letter but, according toguidelines issued by the centre earlier this year, all major immigrationpoints in the country are required to build detention centres.

News that such a centre may be built in Maharashtra comes as the stateprepares for Assembly elections in the next few months, with the Shiv Senaclaiming there are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living and working inMumbai.