Agartala: Traffic movement was crippled in the Ambassa-Ganda Twisa road in Tripura’s Dhalai district, after thousands of newly settled Bru families staged a road blockade demanding immediate solutions to the ration woes.
Protestors claimed that none of the families of the two newly created settlements—Kananta Para and Jagabandhu Kasrai Para, were receiving enough ration materials for survival.
They also complained that the monthly pension of Rs 5,000 was pending for the past five months. When contacted, SDPO Gand Twisa subdivision, Bapi Debbarma told EastMojo that the blockade began early in the morning.
“So far, the protestors have rejected to relent. They had been pressing for their demands. We have deployed adequate security personnel to avoid any tension,” Debbarma told EastMojo.
Sources said, SDM Arindam Das reached the spot soon after the blockade was staged but his efforts to convince the agitators went in vain. Additional District Magistrate of Dhalai district also reached the spot in the evening. A meeting is underway till the filing of this report.
Notably, Gandacherra is a remote subdivision that shares international borders with Bangladesh and Ambassa is the district headquarters of Dhalai. For the past ten hours, the inter-subdivision connectivity between both areas is completely snapped.
Highlighting the key demands of the Brus, one of the protestors said, “A total of 3,494 people from 674 families has been settling in two new settlements of the Bru migrants as a part of the quadripartite agreement signed in January, 2020. Both the settlements are a year and four months old. Even after so much time has passed, the monthly pension has not been regularised. For the last five months, none of the families had received the monthly allowance”.
He also mentioned that an amount of Rs 5,000 for transportation which was supposed to be paid at the time of settling down in the new area is also pending.
“The biggest problem that we are facing at this point is ration supply breakdown. Out of 3,494 settlers, names of only 1,458 people had been enrolled in the online beneficiary register. Since the whole Public Distribution System is now online, names of those migrants who are yet to be enrolled in the database are naturally not entitled to receive the benefit of the rationing scheme. We want all these problems to be resolved at the earliest,” the Bru leader who had been leading the protests told media persons.
Dear Reader,
Every day, our team at EastMojo travels through rain, rough roads, and remote hills to bring you stories that matter – stories from your town, your people, your Northeast.
We do this because we believe in truthful, independent journalism. No big corporate backing, no government pressure – just honest reporting by local journalists who live and breathe the same air you do.
But to keep doing this work, we need you. Your small contribution helps us pay our reporters fairly, reach places others ignore, and keep asking the tough questions.
If you believe the Northeast deserves its own fearless voice, stand with us.
Support independent journalism. Be a Member.
Thank you,
Karma Paljor
Editor-in-Chief, eastmojo.com
Internally Displaced Bru migrants in Tripura has been settling in a total of 12 locations across the state. The process that started after the Covid 19 pandemic, reached its last leg. The last batch of the displaced migrants have been shifted to Santirbazar in South Tripura.
The Brus took shelter in six relief camps of North Tripura district following the ethnic violence in Mizoram in the year 1996.
Also Read | Elephant attacks becoming a ‘perennial’ crisis in Tripura, say locals