The Mizoram government was going ahead with its preparations for the repatriation of the last batch of over 30,000 Brus from Tripura to Mizoram, despite opposition by some members of the community, a senior official said today.
Additional Secretary for Home department, Lalbiakzama, told PTI that the meetings of district core committees on Bru repatriation concluded in Lunglei district yesterday.
Meetings had also been held in Mamit and Kolasib districts, where the Bru families were proposed to be resettled, he said.
The Bru refugees are currently living in six relief camps in North Tripura district.
"We do not have any official information about the reported protests in the relief camps and the withdrawal of Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) chief A Sawibunga from the agreement made on July 3 with the Centre, state governments of Mizoram and Tripura," Lalbiakzama said.
As part of the final repatriation of 32,876 Brus of 5,407 families by September 30, the Mizoram government has planned to resettle 4,199 Bru families in Mamit district near Mizoram-Bangladesh-Tripura border while Kolasid and Lunglei districts bordering Assam would host 824 and 384 families respectively.
A group of Bru refugees in Tripura on Monday forced the MBDPF chief to withdraw his signature from the agreement. The refugees were unhappy with the outcome of the agreement and demanded a better deal, Sawibunga had said.
As per the agreement, signed by the central government and the governments of Tripura and Mizoram besides MBDPF leadership, each of the 5,407 families will get Rs 5,000 per month along with free ration for two years, besides house-building assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Also, a one-time financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh will also be given to each of the family but the amount will be kept as fixed deposit in the name of the family head.
The Bru people fled Mizoram in 1997 following an unrest and multiple efforts have been made since then to repatriate them.
Around 8,000 Bru refugees have gone back to Mizoram since 1997 in six batches and they have been living peacefully in the state, officials said.
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