Aizawl: Mizoram government on Wednesday said it
is likely to resume the repatriation of Bru refugees, lodged
in six relief camps in North Tripura district, from January
12.
A government official informed a meeting of Bru
representatives that 1,000 families would be repatriated this
time around and all of them would be re-settled in Mamit
district, Bru Coordination Committee (BCC) General Secretary
Elvis Chorkhy told PTI over phone.
Earlier, 101 families had been repatriated in a
two-phase process which began from November 3, but it was
called off by the state due to road block by anti-repatriation
elements among the refugees.
"As the Christmas and New Year festivals are drawing
very near, it will be difficult to commence the repatriation
during December as confirmed by the government," Chorkhy said.
On Monday the meeting held at Aizawl, attended by top
officials of the Union Home Ministry, the state government and
leaders of the BCC decided to implement the repatriation on a
large scale.
Sambhu Singh, Joint Secretary (NE) of the Union Home
Ministry informed that the Centre has decided to close down
the six relief camps in Tripura by March when all the
facilities extended to the refugees, including free ration,
would be withdrawn.
Singh said they had discussed the Bru refugee problems
and ways to expedite their return to Mizoram with Tripura
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and expected full cooperation from
the Tripura government.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 19:15