Tripura: Bru Refugees Pushed towards Starvation, Government Stops Ration Supply

Agartala, December 3, 2019:

The supply of ration for over 32,000 Bru refugees has been stopped once again from Sunday and no decision has been taken for their resettlement in Tripura instead of repatriation to Mizoram.

The development took place a day after the Centre's deadline for repatriation of the Bru refugees ended.

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Reportedly, only 171 of over 4,000 displaced families could be sent back to Mizoram during the ninth and final phase of repatriation between October 3 to November 30.

The 9th phase of repatriation has started from 1 October this year, however, till date, only 700 people repatriated to Mizoram from Tripura.

According to the official sources of Kanchanpur, the supply of ration was stopped as per the official order to discontinue the supply after the deadline for their repatriation which was set on November 30.

Earlier, From October 1st this year, the central government had stopped ration camps to refugee camps. Following this, the refugees initiated a mass agitation and during that period 6 people died of starvation including a 1- year old baby.

On November 7, after eight days of protests, a high power ministerial team went to Kanchanpur on 7 November to sort out the tangled repatriation process of Bru refugees from Mizoram, stranded in North Tripura.

The team comprised of deputy chief minister Jishnu Debbarma, education minister Ratan Lal Nath, among others. After the meeting, the Deputy CM announced that the state government will provide ration to the camps till November 30. He also urged the refugees to come to Agartala and sort out their problems by talking with the government heads. He also advised that they should go to Mizoram because their ultimate solution is lying there.

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However, the refugees did not participate in the repatriation process except few. The government has accordingly stopped the supply of ration.

It is pertinent to mention here that more than 35,000 Bru refugees are staying in different refugee camps at Kanchanpur since the last two decades after they fled from Mizoram due to ethnic clash with the Mizos.

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