Repatriated Brus demand uniform rehabilitation package

An organisation of repatriated Bru community people has demanded that the Centre extend to them the same rehabilitation package being given to the Bru refugees whose repatriation was scheduled to begin later this month.

The final repatriation of 5,407 Bru refugee families from Tripura to Mizoram, scheduled to start from August 14, was deferred to August 25. The repatriation process was expected to be completed by September 25.

The Equal Package Demand Committee (EPDC), formed last month, raised the demand for equal rehabilitation. The EPDC has earlier threatened to thwart the repatriation process if its demand was not met.

The organisation held a meeting at Mamit bordering Tripura yesterday, following which a letter on the demand was sent to senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, EPDC chairman Elvis Chorkhy told PTI today.

In the letter, the EPDC expressed gratitude over the attention given to the demands raised by the organisation at a meeting of Joint Monitoring Committee at Dhamcherra, Tripura, on August 10.

As per an agreement signed on July 3, the yet to be repatriated refugee family would get a package of Rs 1.5 lakh for housing assistance, Rs 4 lakh to be withdrawn only after three years, free ration for 2 years and Rs 5,000 per month.

The Brus have already received Rs 80,000 as rehabilitation package and they were demanding Rs 70,000 more.

The repatriated Brus have received free ration for one year and they expect to receive it for another year, Chorkhy said, adding that they also expect to receive Rs 5,000 per month per family.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had supported the demands of the EFDC saying those who obediently returned to Mizoram earlier should be given an equal deal as those who are yet to be repatriated despite several attempts.

Altogether 32,876 Brus belonging to 5,407 families are currently lodged in six relief camps at Kanchanpur sub-division in North Tripura district.

These Brus are in Tripura since late 1997 in the wake of a communal tension triggered by the murder of a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997 by Bru National Liberation Front militants.

The first attempt to repatriate them in 2009 failed and triggered another wave of exodus after the killing of a youth three days before the commencement of the repatriation process.

Though some Bru families had returned to Mizoram during a number of repatriation processes and on their own, many of them refused to leave Tripura.