892 Brus repatriated to Mizoram in ninth round: Officials

A total of 221 internally- displaced Bru families comprising 892 people have returned to Mizoram from six relief camps in north Tripura since the commencement of the ninth round of repatriation on October 3, Mizoram Home Department officials said on Friday. Of the 892 people, 351 were minors and the remaining adults, they said.

The ongoing repatriation process is scheduled to be completed on November 30. Of the repatriated Brus, 134 families have been settled at Mamit district, 68 in Lunglei and 19 in Kolasib district of Mizoram, the officials said.

The Brus or Reangs, one of the 21 scheduled tribes in the country, had to flee Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic clashes. The Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), apex body of Bru inmates at the six relief camps, had claimed that six people including babies have died in the camps since October 29 "because of starvation" after the ration supply to the 35,000-odd internally-displaced persons was stopped.

The Tripura government, however, said four people died and the cause of the deaths was being ascertained. A Supreme Court lawyer had earlier this week sent a legal notice to six officials including Tripura DGP Akhil Kumar Shukla and North Tripura District Magistrate Ravel H Kumar for stopping the supply of free ration and cash-dole to Brus, the MBDPF said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs stopped free ration and cash-dole after the commencement of the ninth round of repatriation on October 3. The displaced people had launched a roadblock at Anandabazar, known for a prominent market, at Kanchanpur in North Tripura district from October 31 demanding resumption of cash-dole and free ration to them.

Following assurance from Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Deb Varma to resume supply of free ration, the blockade was withdrawn on October 7. "Stoppage of daily free ration and cash-dole to the inmates of the relief camps since the commencement of the ninth round of repatriation was an arm-twisting tactic to ensure that we return to Mizoram," a Bru leader said.

MBDPF vice-president R Laldawngliana said the organisation was not against people returning to Mizoram. "We demanded that those who want to return should return and those who want to remain in Tripura should be given the right to do so," Laldawngliana said.

This ninth round of Bru repatriation has been termed as the "final" one by the government. 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, officials said..

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