AGARTALA, Jan 22 � The hope for repatriation of Bru refugees has suffered a set- back after the Mizoram Government officials failed to fix a date for resumption of the process.
As part of the agreement, an eight-member team of Mizoram Government led by SDO Lalzama had visited the refugee camps in North Tripura in Kanchanpur subdivision to identify genuine citizens of Mizoram. They had conducted the exercise and left the area on January 14 without informing the local administration.
In course of the survey, the team had identified only 95 as bonafide residents of Mizoram who were staying in four refugee camps in Tripura. This move has triggered widespread resentment among the refugees sheltered in different camps.
�We are not aware of the departure of the Mizoram officials. Well, we know they have told refugees there is little chance of return of refugees as Central funds have got exhausted�, he said.
Brono Reang, general secretary of Mizoram Bru Displaced People�s Forum (MBDPF) at Ashapara refugee camp said on Tuesday, �We could have helped the team to find out the bonafide citizens but they were not consulted during the exercise�, he said.
Virtually putting a question mark on the will of the Mizoram Government, the refugee leader alleged the government is not keen to take their people back immediately. He also lambasted refugee leader Elvis Chorkhey for putting the refugees into trouble. �He had gone to Aizwal without addressing the decade-long problem�, he alleged.
In a new twist to the refugee imbroglio, YMA and MZD have decided not to settle the repatriated refugees in cluster villages in Mizoram. A unanimous resolution in this regard was passed in a recently concluded meeting of YMA and MZD. However, both power organisations will allow the genuine refugees to get settled the way they had used to live in Mizoram.
