The information gathered will only be utilized for verification and to give the refugees the assistance they require.
A senior official said on Wednesday that Mizoram will start biometric enrollment of the more than 32,000 Myanmar refugees currently residing in the state. Authorities explained that the action is not related to any deportation procedure and is intended to identify the refugees.
All eleven districts will have their biometric and demographic data collected this month, according to State Additional Home Secretary Andrew H. Vanlaldika. Training sessions have already been held by the district administration, and the PCs and webcams needed for the enrollment procedure will be supplied.
The initiative is just for identifying purposes, Vanlaldika emphasized.
The Foreigner Identification Portal, created by the National Informatics Center (NIC), will be used in the procedure. Depending on instructions from the central government, a similar identification operation might be conducted subsequently for Bangladeshi nationals living in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram.
32,419 Myanmar refugees are now receiving shelter in Mizoram, according to the state home department; however, the number fluctuates frequently since some return to Myanmar and then return. In addition, 7,354 Zo ethnic people from Manipur, who have been displaced by ethnic conflict since May 2023, and 2,371 Bangladeshi nationals from the Chittagong Hill Tracts are still in the state.