Agartala: Over 6,000 internally displaced Bru families resettled in different parts of Tripura as per the quadripartite agreement, are facing a tough time following the suspension of monthly cash assistance of Rs 5,000.
Speaking to EastMojo, Bru leader Bruno Msha said most of the newly resettled families are not receiving the payment due to mysterious reasons. “No official in the state government could tell us a valid reason for the sudden discontinuation of the flow of funds. Whenever approached, we are told that the Central government transfers the cash assistance for the Bru families. The state government has no role in fund disbursement. I hope things will get resolved as soon as possible,” he informed EastMojo.
The senior Bru leader also said apart from monthly assistance, the quadripartite agreement includes a plot of land, Rs 1.5 lakh for constructing a house, and a fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakh for the 6,308 families shifted to their new homes across Tripura.
“The number of families resettled in Tripura stood at 6,959. Out of those, only 651 families are in the relief camps. The rest were shifted to areas where the state government is constructing new settlements,” the Bru leader has said.
According to sources, the cash assistance did not stop at the same time for all. Some settlers received the payment for six months, while others received it for three months. A lot of Bru families had not been receiving any payment for the last year.
Bru families resettled in West Kalajhari hills have been deprived of the payments for the last six months.
In Dhali District, Bru leader of Bruhapara settlement Karanjoy Reang recently wrote a letter to District Magistrate Siddhartha Shiv Jaiswal narrating the financial hardships they had been undergoing due to the unprecedented suspension of the flow of funds. According to his letter, the Rs 5,000 allowance was stopped in October 2022 and never resumed. He appealed to the state administration to resume the monthly pension immediately, which will continue to be deposited in their bank account for two years.
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EastMojo also contacted Madhuram Reang, a resident of West Kalajhari Bru settlement. According to Reang, they received six instalments of the pension.
“We have received six instalments of the monthly pension. For the last six to seven months, not a single penny was deposited into our bank accounts. The state government officials have no clue what led to this sudden suspension of the monthly assistance”, Reang pointed out.
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