New Delhi: Stating that 60 percent of Bru refugees were yet to be settled in Tripura, a Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has asked the Union Home Ministry to make all efforts to rehabilitate and settle the migrant families at the earliest. On January 16, 2020, an agreement was signed between the Centre, governments of Tripura and Mizoram, and Bru representatives for the resettlement of the remaining Bru families in Tripura.
More than two and half years have passed, however, only 2737 out of 6959 Bru families have been settled in the eight locations. Due to ethnic violence in the western part of Mizoram in October 1997, a large number of minority Bru (Reang) families migrated to North Tripura in 1997-1998. Approximately 30,000 Bru migrants were given shelter in six relief camps set up in Kanchanpur district of North Tripura.
Repatriation of Brus to Mizoram was started in 2010 and till 2014, approximately 1622 Bru families (8,573persons) were repatriated in six batches and resettled in Mizoram.
The Committee chaired by BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha Brij Lal has found in its latest report that there has been a delay in resettlement due to pending forest clearances for new locations, disputes amongst the local groups and Bru migrants, and reluctance of Bru migrants to shift to certain locations identified by the State Government.
“It is recommended that the MHA may conduct a meeting with all the concerned stakeholders to resolve the issues hampering the commencement of resettlement work at 13 locations so that the resettlement work is completed within a timeframe and without cost overruns,” the committee said in its report submitted in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week.
The Committee also noted that 2,021 families (out of 6959 families) of Bru migrants have been settled in the 7 identified locations, out of which House Building Allowance has been released to 1974 families and 843 houses have been completed, fixed Deposit (FD) of Rs 4 lakhs have been released to 387 families and monthly cash assistance of Rs 5,000 has been released to 460 families.
However, the Ministry has furnished no information with regard to the distribution of free rations to them. “Therefore, it is unclear as to whether these 2,021 families are receiving all the facilities or not. Further, the status of remaining 4,938 families is also not clear as to whether they are receiving adequate help from the Centre/States Government or not, till their final resettlement,” the committee said in its report.
In its action taken report, the Home Ministry said that till date, 2,737 families (out of 6,959 families) have been settled in the eight locations namely Kaskaupara, Wainbukcherra-Ranipara, Bongophapara, Haduklaupara, BandarimaPushparampara, West Kalajhari, Hamsapara and Ultacherra.
“The rest of the families are presently residing in relief camps and are being provided all the facilities, including free ration and cash dole by the State Government with financial assistance from the Government of India. As per requests of the Government of Tripura, the Ministry of Home Affairs has released Rs 140.00 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 130.12 crore in 2021-22,” the Ministry said.
