AGARTALA, Oct 13 - Mizoram Government has sought extension of time till January next year to resume pre-scheduled repatriation of Bru refugees staying in six relief camps in North Tripura istrict.
Earlier, it was decided to resume repatriation of over 35,000 Reang refugees in November this year. But the representative of Mizoram Government has requested extension of the time till January, 2017 in the last JMG meeting held in Delhi on October 10.
An senior official of Mizoram Government has said movement of Brus from Tripura to Mizoram can not be taken up by November as per the pre-scheduled action plan. He also said some more time is required to make arrangements and proposed to start from January, 2017 onwards.
In the meeting, the MHA informed the Mizoram Government�s representative to take back Brus from Tripura relief camps to Mizoram by November, 2016 as it was decided in the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) meeting held in Agartala in September.
Satyendra Garg, Joint Secretary (NE), MHA has also strongly pressed the Bru leaders to convince their people to repatriate to Mizoram.
�If the Brus do not repatriate to Mizoram by November, 2016 as per pre-scheduled repatriation plan then the Central Government will stop giving relief to the Brus in relief camps in Tripura after November�, a MHA official said in the meeting.
Sources said Mizoram Government and Young Mizo Association (YMA) have taken serious exception to the MHA approval for MBDPF leaders to visit Mizoram to have a spot verification of the villages selected by Mizoram Government for rehabilitation of Brus.
In the meeting, MHA officials spelled out the repatriation package for each Bru family after repatriation to Mizoram. The package includes housing assistance amounting to Rs 38,500, cash assistance of Rs 41,500 for each family and free ration for two years. Apart from this, the MHA verbally agreed to extend housing scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to each family.
