494 Bru families verified for repatriation
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network

Aizawl, May 25 2014: Altogether 494 Bru families have been verified as genuine residents of Mizoram.

The verification work conducted earlier this month.

Meanwhile, in a bid to bring back these Reang (Bru) 494 families refugees living in Tripura to Mizoram, the government of Mizoram is presently working out with repatriation process for some of the Bru families living at six camps.

According to staff of Bru Repatriation Cell at Mamit depury commissioner office, the required fund has been sanctioned for the repatriation of these Bru families.

Accordingly, the Mamit district deputy commissioner has started the process of repatriation.

Initially around 494 families have been verified and are ready for repatriation.

The verification work will continue further.

This is going to the 6th phase of repatriation for Reang (Bru) refugees living Tripura.

The actual time and date for repatriation would be decided on Tuesday in a state level meeting under the leadership of the state chief secretary.

Each of the families would be given a rehabilitation of Rs.80,000 for house construction, Rs.5500 for conveyance and Rs.2000 for makeshift.

They would also be provided rice free of cost for one year.

It is worth mentioning here that the relationship between the Mizos and the Brus has not been going well in the past 15 years.

Hundreds of Brus had left Mizoram in 1997 and in 2009.The first case was triggered when Bru militants murdered two Mizos who were forest guards on October 21, 1997 .

The second case happened after a 17-year-old Mizo boy was killed by the Brus near Bungthuam village on November 13, 2009.When the Bru left Mizoram they had driven out some Mizos in villages of Sakhan Hill Range in Tripura like Sakhan Serhmun, Sakhan Tlangsang, Sakhan Tualsen and Upper Dosda which had kicked up much ruckus in Mizoram then.

Meanwhile, a couple of years ago, head count conducted by the MBDPF found that there had been 31,703 Brus in the relief camps belonging to 5,448 families who were bona fide residents of Mizoram.

The repatriation of the 1997 batch of Bru refugees was underway until it stalled by the November 13 killing.

In the year 2011, conglomeration of major NGOs in Mizoram had submitted a joint memorandum to the then Union Home minister P Chidambaram to rehabilitate displaced Mizos in Tripura and stall the ongoing repatriation of Brus from Tripura to Mizoram.

The memorandum was signed by representatives of four large NGOs in the state--the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the MZP, the Mizoram Upa Pawl (MUP) or elders association and the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) or the women's federation and four political parties.

The memorandum had mentioned that more than 80 Mizo families displaced from Tripura's Sakhan Hill range in 1998 after being threatened by Bru militants should be adequately rehabilitated by the Centre, otherwise, the repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura relief camps should not be allowed.

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