The Bru people displaced from Mizoram have declined to be rehabilitated in small groups scattered across Tripura.
The leaders of the refugees have made it clear to the Tripura government that they want to be concentrated in the Kanchanpur Subdivision of North Tripura district.
The issue of their rehabilitation has seen tensions across large swathes of Kanchanpur and the adjoining Panisagar Subdivision since January when the Centre, the governments of Mizoram and Tripura and Bru refugee groups signed an agreement. The pact paved the way for settling some 40,000 Mizoram-displaced Brus in Tripura.
On Monday, the Bru leaders had a meeting with Tripura’s Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura Jishnu Dev Varma and Tribal Welfare Minister Mebar Kumar Jamatia in Agartala on the delay in implementing the rehabilitation programme.
“We have stuck to our demand that at least 50% of our displaced people must be settled in Kanchanpur Subdivision,” said Bru refugee leader Bruno Msha, adding that the refugees do not consider the Bengali, Mizo and other local communities in Tripura as their enemies.
The non-Brus of North Tripura district, primarily the Bengali and Mizo people, have been opposed to large-scale settlement of the refugees in their area. They formed the Joint Movement Committee (JMC) to resist any move to settle more than 500 Bru families in Kanchanpur Subdivision.
“We are not against the rehabilitation. All we are saying is distribute the burden of refugees across the eight districts of Tripura because our areas do not have the space or resources to accommodate more than 500 families,” said JMC convenor Susanta Bikas Barua.
Mr Dev Varma said the State government was committed to implementing the rehabilitation programme while protecting the interests of the locals.