Bru refugees make fresh demand

Even as the Mizoram government has agreed to repatriate the Bru (also known as Reangs) refugees residing in six relief camps in North Tripura, the refugees have made fresh demands. A meeting of various Bru organisations in the relief camps today demanded that each family was given Rs 1.5 lakh, the same amount that the Union Home Ministry had agreed to give to each of the 80 Mizo families displaced from their homes in Sakhan Hills in Tripura. " The meeting today resolved that a written agreement to this effect be made before the repatriation begins from next month, " A Sawibunga, president of Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum, said from Tripura.

The Bru refugees also insisted that the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visit the camps before the next phase of repatriation. As they will be late to prepare jhum cultivation at this time of year, the Bru refugees also demanded that they be given free ration for the next two years once they return to Mizoram. The refugees also disliked the use of a specific electoral roll, such as that of 1995, to identify bonafide citizens of Mizoram, and demanded that any official documents be accepted. As reported earlier, the Mizoram had agreed to resume the stalled Bru repatriation after the Union Home Ministry gave a nod to rehabilitation of the displaced Mizo families who had been driven out of their homes by Bru militants in 1998.