18 places in 8 districts identified in Tripura for Bru resettlement

Agartala, March 5 (PTI): The Tripura government on Thursday said it has identified 18 locations in eight districts to resettle the displaced Bru community people who had been living in relief camps in the state for the past two decades.

Thousands of Bru community people have been living in relief camps in North Tripura district since 1997. They had fled Mizoram to reach the neighbouring state because of ethnic clashes. By now, the total number of these internally displaced people has risen to around 34,000.

“District Magistrates of the state’s eight districts have identified 18 locations to resettle the Brus. Now the government will examine if the lands are suitable for their permanent settlement,” Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said here.

A quadripartite agreement signed on January 16 by representatives of the Brus, the central, Tripura and Mizoram governments in New Delhi allows these tribal people to permanently settle in Tripura.

“A maximum of 300 to 350 Bru families would be resettled in one location and the government would set up schools for their children and provide them agricultural land,” said Nath who is also the cabinet spokesperson.

A day after the agreement was signed, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb said it will take at least six months to resettle the 34,000-odd members of the community.

The Brus are staying in six camps at Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions of North Tripura district. They get free ration and a cash dole from the Centre.

According to the agreement, each Bru family would get one 1200 square feet plot and INR 1.5 lakh to build a house, INR 4 lakh fixed deposit in the name of the family and INR 5,000 per month along with free ration for the next two years.

A total of INR 600 crore was sanctioned to resettle them within Tripura.

“Our Government will also provide them certificates of Permanent Resident of Tripura, Aadhaar card, Scheduled Tribes (ST) certificate and ration cards. The benefits which the tribals in the state get would also be provided to them,” Nath said.

The agreement was signed one-and-a-half months after the ninth initiative to send the Bru refugees back to Mizoram failed. Of the targeted 4,447 families, the CM had said only 350 families could be repatriated.

The vexed Bru issue started from September, 1997, following demands of a separate autonomous district council by carving out areas of western Mizoram adjoining Bangladesh and Tripura.

The situation was aggravated by the murder of a forest guard in the Dampa Tiger Reserve in western Mizoram by Bru National Liberation Front insurgents on October 21 that year.

The first attempt to repatriate the Brus from Tripura was made in November 2009.