Refugees now want rehabilitation in Dampa Wildlife Sanctuary

A Correspondent

Agartala: Reang refugees residing in six North Tripura camps have raised a new demand as pre-condition for their repatriation. They are now demanding resettlement inside the Dampa Wildlife Sanctuary in Mizoram.

Four organizations including the Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples’ Forum have recently sent a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah through the Sub-divisional Magistrate of Kanchanpur in this regard. The other organizations are Mizoram Bru Indigenous Democratic Movement, Bru Tribal Development Society and Bru Displaced Women Welfare Committee.

The memorandum said Brus were residents of Dampa Valley from ancient times and there are many historical evidences and monuments to prove it. The memorandum alleges that the Mizoram government declared Dampa as Wildlife Sanctuary in 1985 and subsequently as a Tiger Reserve in 1994 with an ill-intension to oust the Bru settlements.

The memorandum further said though Dampa was declared as a Tiger Reserve but the residents have never seen a tiger in the area. Few years ago, the State Forest department conducted a tiger census by installing CCTV but none of them could capture images of any tiger, the memorandum said.

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