Aizawl, Oct 27 : The Mizoram government is gearing up to repatriate the Bru refugees, lodged in six relief camps in North Tripura, from November 18 onwards, state Home Minister R Lalzirliana said here today.
''Preparations for the much-delayed Bru repatriation are almost complete. The state government has taken every step to repatriate them from the relief camps on November 18,'' Lalzirliana told reporters.
According to him, the first batch comprising 50 families would be repatriated to Kolalian village in Mamit district in western Mizoram.
Temporary makeshift shelters would be made for the repatriated refugees as the refugees insisted that they would construct their own houses with the housing fund allotted to them. Each family would be given Rs 38,000 for housing.
Despite some Bru organisations protesting the ''unconditional'' repatriation, the Mizoram Home Minister expressed hope that all the bonafide citizens of Mizoram would return to their ancestral homes.
The Home Minister said the refugees would be resettled in three districts of Lunglei, Mamit and Kolasib. Villages for their resettlement have been identified and the required fund for the repatriation has been sanctioned.
According to him, the repatriated Brus would be settled in 36 villages in Mamit district, five villages each in Kolasib and Lunglei districts.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had asked the Mizoram government to repatriate the refugees by October 18 this year. The Mizoram government sought one month's time after the deadline due to unprecedented monsoon-related disasters in western Mizoram.
Meanwhile, there has been a split among the refugee organisations over the repatriation.
''The repatriation of Bru refugees has virtually stalled due to a split among refugee leaders belonging to Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) and other NGOs,'' sources said. Virtually declaring a revolt against Elvis Chorky, president of MBDPF, three NGOs under the leadership of Binoy Reang have written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention to remove the stalemate.
They have also staged a demonstration in front of the Dasda RD block office in Kanchanpur subdivision on Sunday to vent their grievances. In the letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the NGOs had mentioned the plight of the refugees sheltered in six relief camps since a long time.
The letter has been jointly submitted by MBDPF, Young Bru Association (YBA) and Bru Displaced Welfare Organisation (BDWO) in protest against the unconditional repatriation of Bru refugees and signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) against the will of majority of the Bru people.
Earlier, the BDWO had expressed its dismay at the ongoing preparation for the settlement of refugees after they were being repatriated to Mizoram.
According to some officials, the split among Bru refugee leaders has virtually marred the prospect of return of refugees though the Centre had been directing the Mizoram government to take all the bonafide refugees back.
Mr Chidambaram during his last visit to Mizoram had made it clear that all the refugees should be repatriated by the end of this year.
Over 37,000 Reang tribal refugees have taken shelter in six camps in north Tripura, adjacent to Mizoram, since 1997 when they fled western Mizoram following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos over the killing of a forest official by Bru militants.
Similar incident took place on November 13, 2009, when suspected Bru gunmen killed a Mizo youth of Bungthuam village in western Mizoram, triggering fresh ethnic violence. Hundreds of Bru families fled to Tripura and joined the refugees already lodged there.
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