All aid to Bru refugees to stop from Monday: Centre

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would discontinue all kinds of subsistence allowances, including ration supplies and cash dole, to the Bru refugees from Monday, an official notification said.

The notification was issued by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Panisagar in North Tripura district, Lalnemmemi Darlong, on Saturday.

The MHA has directed to stop all kinds of allowances, including cash dole and ration supplies, from October 1, to the Mizoram Bru refugees, sheltered in six evacuee camps in North Tripura district in Tripura. The MHA instruction came on September 25.

MHA Special Secretary (Internal Security) Rina Mitra, Joint Secretary Satyendra Garg and others had said in August that all refugee camps in Tripura would be shut down if the Brus failed to return to Mizoram within September.

Reacting to the notification, the president of Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples Coordination Committee (MBDPCC), L Laldinliana, said he was aware of the government's decision.

"We are aware of this. We shall convene a meeting tomorrow with all refugees who are still here in Tripura and decide about our next course of action," he said.

Laldinliana also said the refugee body is contemplating writing to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and other authorities, seeking respite.

So far, 40 families have returned to Mizoram from six relief camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions in North Tripura district.

However, over 32,000 refugees are still sheltered in relief camps in the state.

The repatriation process had started on August 25 and concluded on September 25 this year.

Thousands of Brus had been lodged in the Tripura relief camps since late 1997 in the wake of a communal tension triggered by the brutal killing of Lalzawmliana, a forest guard, inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997, by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) militants.