Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Agartala.
| Photo Credit: ANI
“More than 37,500 Bru tribals, who were affected by the ethnic violence in Mizoram in the late 1990s and 2009, have been rehabilitated in Tripura at a cost of ₹821 crore provided by the Union Home Ministry,” officials said in Tripura’s Ambassa. Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited some of these refugees in Tripura, on Sunday (December 22, 2024.)
“On January 16, 2020, a quadripartite agreement was signed among the Governments of India, Tripura, Mizoram and representatives of Bru organisations for the permanent rehabilitation of Bru migrants in Tripura,” officials said.
Who are the Brus, and what are the implications of settling them in Tripura?
While about 70% of the Bru (Reang) tribals are Hindu, the remaining are Christians. Bru migrants from three districts of Mizoram — Mamit, Lunglei and Kolasib districts — moved to the North Tripura district in 1997, 1998 and 2009 due to serious ethnic violence in Mizoram between Bru and Mizo communities.
A total of 12 locations have been identified in Tripura for establishing resettlement colonies for Bru tribals out of which nine locations are in forest land and three locations are on government land. These 12-selected locations are in four districts of North Tripura, Dhalai, Gomati and South Tripura. “A total of 754 acres of land has been made available to resettle these families. Settlement works are going on in these 12 identified locations,” officials said.
“The final figure for families for rehabilitation under the agreement stands at 6,935 with population of 37,584,” the officials said.
Common development works such as laying of power lines, brick soling of internal roads, installation of deep tubewells for providing drinking water, building power infrastructure, connectivity to households, installation of solar street lights, opening of new fair price shops, anganwadi centres, schools and health sub-centres have been almost completed in 11 locations.
While 11 colonies are fully functional, the common developmental works of the last approved resettlement colony — Kala Lawgang in South Tripura district — is going on and likely to be completed by the end of this financial year.
Overall ₹821.98 crore is being spent to resettle these families in 12 colonies, another official said. Out of which, ₹793.65 crore is being borne by the Union Home Ministry and ₹28.34 crore is being borne by the State Government for common development works.
Till date, the Home Ministry has released ₹693.13 crore of which ₹406.42 crore was given directly to the beneficiaries under direct benefit transfer. The pact gives a comprehensive development package for each family being rehabilitated in Tripura.
As per the resettlement package, a one-time financial assistance of ₹4,00,000 per family is given as fixed deposit for two years. A piece of land in clusters measuring 30×40 feet for construction of house and house building assistance of ₹1,50,000 per family in three equal instalments is given.
Monthly cash assistance of ₹5,000 per family per month for a period of two years from the date of shifting to new location is also given.
Free ration to each family for two years from the date of resettlement in Tripura as per the existing norms is also part of the package besides free transportation to move from the present temporary camps to the location of resettlement in Tripura.
“All cash assistance is being provided through the Direct Beneficiary Transfer (DBT) scheme,” the officials said. Through several efforts, 1,244 families comprising 6,367 people were repatriated to Mizoram in eight phases.
However, the remaining 6,935 families comprising 37,584 people did not move to Mizoram and are staying in seven relief camps in North Tripura district.
Published – December 22, 2024 01:14 pm IST
