Central Government Asks the Bru Families to Repatriate Before October 1

The central government, in a recent order passed, has asked the Bru families to go back to their state Mizoram who was living in relief camps in Tripura. The government also said that the relief provided to the families will be withdrawn from October 1.

This was decided after a meeting between the state home department, police and the Centre, which was also attended by civil society’s leaders and the representatives of the relief camps.

As reported, the Bru families residing in the relief camp of Tripura are currently receiving free ration and subsistence allowance of Rs 5 per day per person which is being provided by the Centre.

It is the leaders of the Bru who will be responsible to collect the names of those particular families who wants to go back to their state. The names of such families will have to be submitted by the leaders and they will, later, be transported back by the Mizoram government. Although the Mizoram government will be bearing the transportation costs; but the state government officials would not be deployed in the relief camps.

Remarkably, the repatriation process is currently ongoing with the Bru families being transported to back to the state from August 25 to September 25. But the poor response of the Bru refugees towards the process has led the centre to convene the meeting and discuss over the issue. It has to be mentioned in this context that, during the process of repatriation, only three families were deported from Tripura to Mizoram.

The Centre, on the other hand, was hopeful that after the signing of the agreement between Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Ministers of Mizoram and Tripura and Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) chief A Sawibunga; the outcome will be bright but nothing like that happened since the commencement of the repatriation process. The agreement had stated that the repatriation process will end before September 30, but there is no such sign so far. This has further compelled the government at the centre to give an ultimatum to the Bru families and ask them to go back by October 1.