Agartala: The stalemate surrounding the choice of location for the resettlement of internally displaced Bru migrants, seems to have resolved.
The last batch of displaced migrants is now being shifted to Santirbazar located in the South Tripura district, where a plot of 30 hectares of land has been demarcated for them, an official informed EastMojo.
“Already as many as 54 Bru families have shifted to the new location. They are now in the temporary accommodation facility arranged in the under-construction hospital building. The construction of the huts is underway at the location where a total of 633 families would get permanent settlement”, the official has said.
Speaking on the development, Bru IDP leader and one of the signatories of the Quadripartite Agreement, Bruno Msho, informed EastMojo that all those who had earlier expressed their reservations to sign the consent papers finally conceded to the state government’s offer.
“More than 600 families were yet to be relocated to the permanent residence they were supposed to receive as per the agreement. They didn’t want to go to the place where the administration wanted to send them. The deadlock continued for several months and ultimately they were ready for the resettlement. Around 50 families have been already sent to Santirbazar and the remaining families will go in phases once the construction works get completed”, he said.
According to the Bru leader, the government is not ready to shift them in one go. “We are optimistic that within a very short period, the process will conclude”, he added.
On being asked about the pause in the monthly pension, he said, “The monthly pension has been resumed but the due is not cleared yet. There is no uniformity. Some families got two instalments; some got three while others got one. These issues are discussed in the quarterly review meeting of the resettlement package in the state as well as the central level and we have been assured that all these things would be taken care of”, he added.
Meanwhile, Tripura Minister for Cooperation and Tribal Welfare Shukla Charan Noatia on January 13 received the 54 families who had reached Santirbazar for the first time. While interacting with media persons followed by the ceremonial welcome, the Minister hoped that the entire process would be completed by the end of February this year.
According to the Minister, the families who would now inhabit the subdivision had not received subsidised ration goods and other benefits for the last seven months.
“Due to some complications, the resettlement had been delayed. Had they agreed earlier to accept the government’s offer and conceded to get relocated here in Santirbazar, they would have received the benefits assured under the quadripartite agreement sans any interruption. However, the complications have been resolved and they are arriving here in the 12th location selected under the Bru resettlement pact”, the Minister added.
In as many as 11 locations, settlement of the displaced Bru migrants has already ended. The families have been provided with one-time cash assistance in the form of a fixed deposit of rupees four lakh coupled with a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for two years.
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Appealing for peace, the Minister said, “Our Bru brothers and sisters who had found their permanent home after a struggle of 24 years have a bigger responsibility to protect the peace and tranquillity of the area. Similarly, people in the local areas should also be cooperative with the newcomers. Let this new year start with a new beginning of hope and compassion among the locals and the Bru migrants.”
It is worth mentioning here that ethnic clashes that broke out in the year 1997 left around 34,000 Brus displaced from Mizoram. They took shelter in six relief camps and after over two decades, the quadripartite agreement signed between the Government of India, the governments of Tripura, Mizoram and Bru leaders ended the imbroglio and the displaced migrants got their permanent home in Tripura.
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