Tripura: Bru migrants write to Union home ministry, seek faster resettlement

In a letter to Shah submitted through the block development officer (BDO) of Dasda rural development block on Friday, the Bru Displaced Youth Association (BDYA) blamed the ‘negligent’ attitude of the Tripura government for the ‘delay’ in the completion of the resettlement process.

‘A historic agreement for resolving 23 long-pending issues of the displaced Brus was signed on 16th January, 2020, in New Delhi. As per the agreement, the identification of land/location for resettlement should have been completed within 60 days of signing of the agreement as well as… closure of temporary relief camps should have been completed within 180 days… but even after 742 days… 90 per cent of the resettlement process has been pending due to the negligent attitude of the Tripura government,’ the letter signed by BDYA president Herbert Reang read.

The Bru youth organisation has claimed that the resettlement process has been initiated in only one location under the Kanchanpur sub-division but hardly any work has progressed in other proposed resettlement sites in Gachirampara, Anandabazaar, Manu-Chailengta, Nandirampara and Bikramjaypara reserve forest.

The letter also requested Shah to ensure that resettlement packages were immediately released to migrant families that have settled in different parts of the state.

As part of the assured government package, each resettled family would get 0.03 acre (1.5 ganda) of land for building a home, Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance, Rs 4 lakh as a one-time cash benefit for sustenance, monthly allowance of Rs 5,000 and free ration for two years from the date of resettlement.

Nearly 37,000 Bru migrants fled ethnic clashes in Mizoram in 1997 and were sheltered in six relief camps in North Tripura district. Around 5,000 returned in nine phases of repatriation but almost the same number was displaced during renewed clashes in 2009 and came to Tripura.

The 2020 pact was inked two years after another agreement in June 2018, which sought to repatriate the internally displaced persons to Mizoram, was rejected by the migrants. The Bru migrants had then complained that they were not “properly consulted” regarding the resettlement procedure.