Bru Refugees Plan Stir in North Tripura Camps

Lack of funds, ration, healthcare facilities hit camp inmates

Special Correspondent

Silchar: The Bru refugees still languishing in the relief camps of Kanchanpur in North Tripura have resented the lack of proper facilities in the camps and threatened to go on long drawn agitation if corrective measures are not taken to redress it.

According to A Sawibunga, general secretary, Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), the cash dole for the last three months and garments of Durga Puja festival 2018, have still not been distributed. Moreover, there is abnormal delay in the distribution of rations as the transportation of ration from State godown to relief camps is irregular. Besides, the inmates are also deprived of their due share of the ration.

The MBDPF in this compelling situation has approached the government of Tripura to release the pending cash amount and puja garments as well as regularize the distribution of rations. The government of Tripura has expressed its helplessness to expedite the distribution as required funds have not being released by the Central Government.

Rather, on humanitarian grounds, the government of Tripura has been reimbursing huge amount of money from its own fund on expectation that it will be paid back.

The seasonal changes, on the other hand, cast a dark shadow on the health and hygiene of the inmates who have come to be afflicted with diseases like cold and flu, diarrhoea and other stomach disorders. Financial constraints keep them confined to their camps, stated J Lalremruatmawia.

The Front cautions in view of the prevailing unrest and resentment in the 7 relief camps of 30,000 refugees, it might be forced to go for phase-wise agitation unless their grievances are resolved. The agitation will begin with a mass rally from Naisingpara to Dasda followed by a three-day long sit-in demonstration before the sub-divisional magistrate’s office Kanchanpur, blockade of road from Kanchanpur to Ananda Bazaar and Damcherra to Khedacherra, poster campaign from Churaibari, Assam-Tripura border point, to Agartala national highway and conclude with a long march from Naisingpara to the district magistrate’s office at Dharmanagar. A copy of the memorandum was also addressed to Rajiv Gauba, Union Home Secretary.

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