Question mark on Bru people repatriation

Mizoram Bru Displace People's Forum (MBDPF) President A Sawibunga expressed doubt that thousands of Bru people, now lodged in six relief camps in North Tripura district would be willing to return to Mizoram unless each repatriated family is disbursed money for construction of a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
MBDPF is an apex body of the Bru people lodged in the Tripura relief camps since the later part of 1997.
Sawibunga, who is now in Aizawl to appear before a district court in which he is the accused in a defamation case, told PTI that the centre has to give official assurance that all the families in the camps would be given house construction expenses under the Prime Minister's program of housing for all.

He lamented that many bona fide residents of Mizoram in the six relief camps were not identified by the Mizoram government officials who conducted the identification since November two till Wednesday.
"The officials did not bother to check ration cards issued by the Mizoram government and other documents saying their instruction was to identify only those enrolled in the 1995 Voters lists," he said, adding that many descendants of voters whose parents have died were also left out in the identification.
He also said that the Tripura government officials issued birth certificates to only few Bru babies born in the relief camps which created problems in identification.

Mizoram government officials identified 32,857 Brus belonging to 5,413 families during the identification process who would be repatriated as per the proposed road map for Bru repatriation.

According to the Road Map-V for Bru Repatriation, around 21,000 Brus belonging to 3,445 families were to be repatriated, but the figure had shot up much more than the target earlier.
Meanwhile, the physical repatriation, scheduled to commence from November 30 is not likely to begin as per schedule due to various problems, state home department officials said.
The officials said that the Ministry of Home Affairs' delay in making final decision on the proposed enhancement of rehabilitation and resettlement package for the resettled Bru families and the recent demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes hindered physical repatriation to begin as per schedule.

At this rate, the physical repatriation may only take off in February next year, some officials said.