Mizoram govt to make preparations for repatriation of Brus

Mizoram government is planning to repatriate Brus from six Tripura relief camps soon, Home Minister R Lalzirliana informed the state assembly today.
The meeting convened by Ministry of Home Affairs, which was attended by both Mizoram and Tripura government officials on January 8, decided to again make preparations for repatriation of Brus from Tripura relief camps, Lalzirliana said in reply to a question from Lalruatkima of the Mizo National Front (MNF).
"The movement plan for the repatriation process has been scheduled to be completed by May 31, 2016," he said, adding that not a single Bru had returned to Mizoram in the last repatriation attempt.

The state government, he said, had submitted a requirement for Rs 68.50 crore for implementation of the Road Map-IV for Bru Repatriation undertaken during June to September last year.
"The MHA released Rs 4.7 crore as the first installment and Rs 5 crore in the second instalment," the minister said.
Of the Rs 4.7 crore, expenses of Rs 46.57 lakh were incurred during the repatriation process, he said.

(Reopens CES6)
Lalzirliana said that the Brus, lodged in the Tripura
relief camps, made ten-point demands to the Centre on the basis of which the MHA had agreed to extend the period of giving free ration from one year to two years.

He said that the demand for allotment of permanent land could not be done due to non-availability of land while the demand for settlement of not less than 500 families could not be accepted as it was against the government policy to settle people on communal lines.
The demand for deployment of Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) for security of the Bru inhabited areas was rejected as the state government has full faith in the state police and deployment of CPMF would entail additional expenses which the state government could not afford, he said.
He also said that the documents provided by the Tripura government to the inmates of the relief camps could not be accepted for determination of bona fide residents of Mizoram as many Brus who were in the relief camps were from Tripura and Assam.

The state government did not have any intention to establish Reang/Bru Area Development Council, Lalzirliana said while replying to supplementaries said.
However, one-time development project could be justified once all of them returned to Mizoram, he said.