AIZAWL, Dec 5: Mizoram
government has rescheduled
the proposed repatriation of
over 5,000 Bru families from six
relief camps in Tripura to March
next year, a senior state Home
department official today said.
The official said that as per the
earlier schedule, it was proposed
that the repatriation would begin
from December first week,
but it was deferred to March as
the Union Ministry of Home
Affairs failed to release funds
meant for the exercise.
He said the proposal to commence
the repatriation from
March, 2018 would be implemented
on time only if the
Centre releases the fund for
expenses to be incurred in the
repatriation process.
The state government had
submitted a revised estimate for the expenses for repatriation
to the tune of Rs 123 crore.
The Mizoram government
officials who conducted the
identification in the Tripura
relief camps during November
2 to November 23 this year,
identified 32,857 people belonging
to 5,413 families as
bona fide residents of Mizoram
and to be repatriated.
The proposed physical repatriation
scheduled to commence
from November 30 could, however,
not take off due to different
reasons including increase
in the number of bona fide residents
of Mizoram from 21,000
to 32,857, necessitating revision
of the expenditure estimate.
Thousands of Brus fled Mizoram
and migrated to Tripura
after Bru militants gunned
down a forest guard inside the
Dampa Tiger Reserve on October
21, 1997.
The first effort to repatriate
them in November 16, 2009
not only fizzled out due to the
murder of a Mizo youth by Bru
militants near Tripura border
Bungthuam village three days
before the commencement of
the repatriation, but triggered
another wave of exodus.
Even as a number of families
have returned to Mizoram during
the government-sponsored
repatriation process as also on
their own will, thousands of
them remained in the Tripura
relief camps making several
fresh demands and conditions
for their return. – PTI
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