A scheme offering a waiver of visa fee and overstay penalty, meant for expediting the voluntary repatriation of non-camp refugees from Sri Lanka, is yet to take off despite four years having passed since its inception.
Over the years, only 1,230 non-camp refugees out of 1,257 applicants have received the waiver.
As of date, the State has 34,355 refugees staying outside the camps. This is on top of 59,714 refugees living in 107 camps. Six months before the formulation of the waiver scheme in December 2015, there were 37,073 non-camp refugees.
Various reasons cited
A number of reasons are cited for the subdued response to the scheme.
The lack of awareness, the cumbersome process, the desire of sections of the refugees to acquire Indian citizenship and the Easter blasts in Sri Lanka in April are some of the factors that have come in the way of the refugees considering a return to their home country. Framed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in December 2015, the scheme enables non-camp refugees living in Tamil Nadu to go back to Sri Lanka voluntarily, as it exempts them from having to pay hefty sums to the authorities for having “overstayed illegally” in the country.
The scheme is applicable to those who came to India prior to January 9, 2015.
A committee, comprising the Principal Secretary (Public), the Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) and the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, Chennai, is in place to scrutinise the credentials of the applicants on a case-by-case basis.
A senior official in the State government dealing with the affairs of refugees clarified that the question of payment of the charges will not arise in respect of camp refugees as they were under the protection of the authorities.
Explaining the importance of the scheme, the official said that in the absence of such a measure, a refugee may have to pay, on an average, ₹50,000 to ₹1,00,000, depending upon the number of years of their stay in the country.
As this was considered ‘prohibitive’, the Central government had come out with the scheme.
As for the grant of waiver to applicants, the official pointed out that generally, the committee made recommendations to the State government.
Asked about the time taken by the panel to scrutinise the applications, he said it varied, as the committee was required to conduct an enquiry for each applicant. In some cases, the waiver had been given in 45 days, and in others, six months.
An activist working for the welfare of refugees said that only the non-camp refugees living in Chennai and Tiruchi were aware of the scheme. Information about the measure had to be disseminated among others as well, he said.
Major obstacle
Many non-camp refugees, while shifting from one place to another, do not register themselves with the local police stations for a variety of reasons, though registration is a must.
“This becomes a major obstacle when they want to apply for voluntary repatriation and make use of the scheme. If the stipulation is relaxed in respect of the non-camp refugees willing to go back to Sri Lanka, it will make the scheme a success,” the activist said
