Bru refugees continue to block road demanding resumption of

Bru refugees living in relief camps in Tripura continued to stage blockade at a key area in north Tripura district for the second consecutive day on Friday, which disrupted communication and hindered the ongoing repatriation process, officials said. The refugees blocked the road between Dosda in Kanchanpur and Anandabazar area demanding the resumption of free ration and cash-dole to them.

"Brus has been demanding the resumption of free ration and cash-dole to thousands of inmates of the relief camps. It was stopped by the center from last month as the ninth and final repatriation process from October 3 has been commenced," the officials said. The ongoing repatriation is scheduled to be completed by November 30.

The Centre and the Mizoram government were committed to continuing the process as per schedule despite opposition and obstruction from some Bru leaders who were against the process, the officials said. Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) general secretary Bruno Msha told PTI over the phone from Tripura that the "blockade was total with over ten thousand people sitting on the road".

Masha, however, said they have not received any communication so far from the government on their demands. "the specter of starvation (is) looming large over the displaced Brus due to the discontinuation of rations and cash-dole from October, 2019 onward," MBDPF wrote to North Tripura District Magistrate Ravel H Kumar on Tuesday.

The decision to stop the supply of rations amid the repatriation was an "unconstitutional and blatant violation of human rights, the letter, signed by MBDPF president A Sawibunga and Msha, read. Every adult Bru person living in a camp gets Rs 3.50 in cash and 600 grams of rice per day as allowances, while each minor receives Rs 2.50 in cash and 300 grams of rice per day, official sources said adding that they get clothes in every three years.

Meanwhile, 214 Bru families have returned to Mizoram from October 3 to date and the repatriation process could not be continued from Thursday due to the road blockade, the officials said. However, officials of Mamit district along the Mizoram-Tripura border said that nine Brus belonging to two families managed to cross river Langkaih on their own on Friday and reported to the officials of the facilitation center at Kanhmun in Mizoram.

During the eighth round of repatriation, the Ministry of Home Affairs had warned that the relief camps would be closed down from October 1, 2018, and free ration and money doled to the displaced families would be discontinued. However, that phase did not bear much fruit.

While the MHA did stop the free ration and cash dole from October 1, 2018, the Centre restarted it apparently due to political reasons as the Mizoram assembly election was nearing. The Centre has approved Rs 350 crore for the ninth phase of repatriation and the amount covers transportation and rehabilitation package expenses, which include Rs 5,000 per month for each resettled Bru family in Mizoram and free ration for them for two years.

The vexed Bru problem started when the Bru people, spearheaded by an organization, Bru National Union, demanded a separate autonomous district council by carving out areas of western Mizoram adjoining Bangladesh and Tripura in September 1997. The situation was aggravated by the murder of a forest guard in the Dampa Tiger Reserve in western Mizoram by Bru National Liberation Front insurgents on October 21, 1997.