Aizawl: The Mizoram government would move
the Centre for extension of the deadline for repatriation of Bru refugees from camps in North Tripura, from October 18 as
instructed by the Union Home Ministry to November 18, a senior
state home department official said here Wednesday.
Additional Secretary for Home T V Fambol told PTI that
the state government would seek for more time as the deputy
commissioner of Mizoram-Tripura border Mamit district had
sought it.
The Mamit district administration has been engaged in
rescue and relief operations due to natural calamity triggered
by faults which threatened the majority of the people in Mamit
town, Fambol said.
"As Mamit district is where maximum number of the Bru
refugees would be resettled after the repatriation, the
district officials engaged almost full time in relief
operations are unable to prepare for the repatriation process
during October. The monsoon is also still continuing in the
state resulting in serious communication problems," he said.
Meanwhile, the joint verification of villages where
the refugees were proposed to be resettled was almost complete
in Mamit, he said.
Verification would also be conducted on the
Mizoram-Assam border Kolasib district and south Mizoram?s
Lunglei district by NGOs, the Bru Coordination Committee and
district officials, he said.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, during his visit to
Aizawl on May 25 had urged Bru leaders to ensure that all the
refugees should return to Mizoram from Tripura by October end.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, October 06, 2010, 15:38