Aizawl: Repatriation of 462 Bru families, who
fled Mizoram for Tripura in the wake of the murder of a Mizo
youth on November 13 last year, resumed today after being
stalled for more than a week due to the demand for
transportation facilities by the refugees, official sources
said here.
The repatriation began at around 8:30 a.m. as around 140
families left Naisingpara relief camp in Kanchanpur
sub-division of North Tripura district for Kolalian, K.
Sarali, Tumpanglui, New Eden, Bazitungpa and Damdiai villages
in Mizoram’s Mamit district, the district Superintendent
Dingluaia told agency over phone.
Dingluaia said that the exact number of Brus who returned
today, would be known only after all of them arrived at their
respective villages where the designated administrative
officer appointed for each village will give detailed reports.
He said that the Tripura government arranged vehicles
for the refugees and the payment would be made at the rate of
Rs 1,500 per family by the state government.
The next team of Bru families was scheduled to return
on May 24 and the repatriation process was expected to be over
by May 26, he said, adding, ?At least we hope that the
repatriation would be completed within this month.?
The repatriation of 462 Bru families was, earlier
scheduled to be conducted during May 11 to May 15, but except
for nine families who returned on May 15, all of them refused
to come back demanding that the money for transportation costs
be disbursed to them in advance.
They finally agreed to return en masse only after the
state government agreed to arrange vehicles for them.
The repatriated Brus, who lost their houses in the
communal flare-up in November-December 2009, would receive Rs
80,000 per family for resettlement and free ration for nine
months, as the Union Home Ministry provided over Rs 23 crore
for the repatriation expenses.
The proposed repatriation of thousands of Bru refugees,
lodged since October 1997 in the six relief camps in
Kanchanpur sub-division from November 16 last year, not only
failed to take off but triggered another exodus after the Mizo
youth Zarzokima was gunned down.
The Bru refugees first fled Mizoram in 1997 following
the murder of Lalzawmliana, a forest guard inside the Dampa
Tiger Reserve by the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF)
militants.
PTI
First Published: Friday, May 21, 2010, 17:58