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After stopping ration supply, causing 6 Bru starvation deaths, 50 hospitalized, now BJP-IPFT Govt’s attempt to acquire Bru-settlement Credit ? CM accredits BJP-IPFT Ministers for solving Bru-issue
TIWN Jan 17, 2020
After stopping ration supply, causing 6 Bru starvation deaths, 50 hospitalized, now BJP-IPFT Govt’s attempt to acquire Bru-settlement Credit ?  CM accredits BJP-IPFT Ministers for solving Bru-issue
PHOTO : CM held press meet at Secretariat. TIWN Pic Jan 17, 2020

AGARTALA, Jan 17 (TIWN): Pradyot Manikya’s initiatives with Amit Shah brought the Bru issue to a solution whereas BJP-IPFT Govt mercilessly stopped ration supply to Kanchanpur based Bru people which caused 6 starvation deaths and over 50 hospitalization. Chief Minister Biplab Deb who previously twice told media that Brus will never get residentship of Tripura and stopped ration supplies, could not strict to his statement as Reang community’s united protest led by regional parties, specially Royal scion Pradyot Manikya who challenged the Govt, bound BJP Govt to change decision ahead of ADC election. However, ignoring all the previous facts, Chief Minister Biplab Deb on Friday after returning form Delhi said that the Bru settlement was done after continuous efforts from the BJP-IPFT Govt and its Ministers’ continuous followups. However, CM said, the families who already went to Mizoram will not get Tripura residentship and the Brus in Tripura yet free to go Mizoram but from now no pressure will be given.

Biplab Deb also mentioned, who came form Mizoram in 1997, Govt of Tripura has full list and only they will get the residentship. He further said that the de-sheltered Bengali families also will get equally rehabilitation package and shelters with the Reang. CM said that around 150 such families are there who were displaced from Kanchanpur.

“I have also told the Union Home Minister about this and also they will be identified in the process”, Deb said.

“All we wanted a permanent solution to the issue and it is historical decision. Tripura’s indigenous people have big heart that they are ready to share their rights with other state’s people”, said Deb.

The statement came after an agreement to end the 22-year-old Bru crisis was signed on Thursday to settle over 30,000 people belonging to 5,300 families of the community in Tripura where they migrated in 1997 from Mizoram following an unrest.

The agreement to settle the Bru, called Reangs in Tripura, in Tripura was signed among chief secretaries of Mizoram, Tripura and representatives of Bru tribes here in the Ministry of Home Affairs'' North Block office in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

As per the agreement, the refugees will settle in Tripura and will be given aid for their rehabilitation -- a move that came after Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had in November last year agreed to settling the Bru tribals in November last year.

The Bru people would now be included in Tripura''s voter list as per the agreement. The Centre has announced a package of Rs 600 crore for the settlement of the tribes in Tripura. Of the package, Rs 150 lakh will be given to Tripura government for the land acquisition and the rest of the money will be spent for the welfare of the tribe.

Following the agreement, the Home Minister informed media in a briefing that Bru people will get a 40-by-30-ft plot along with a fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakh for two years, cash assistance of Rs 5,000 per month for two years and free ration.

Shah said that Mizoram and Tripura governments will work towards the development of Bru families.

The Minister declared that an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh will be provided to each family of the Bru refugees to help them in constructing their own houses and that the amount will be disbursed under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMAY).

According to an agreement between Mizoram and Tripura government in 2018, the Bru tribals had to settle in Mizoram, but only 327 family went in two years as nobody was interested to go to Mizoram.

The Brus inhabit an area spread across parts of Mizoram, Tripura and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. In 1997, the Bru National Union passed a resolution demanding an autonomous district council, which was opposed by the government and the Young Mizos Association (Mizo Zirlai Pawl or MZP).

Hardline elements within the autonomy movement then launched an armed struggle. In 1997, Bru National Liberation Front allegedly killed a Mizo forest guard. The killing was followed by ethnic riots, forcing over 30,000 Bru villagers to flee Mizoram and seek shelter in Tripura, where they have been staying since then.

According to a relief package announced six months after Bru migrants arrived in Tripura in 1997, 600 gm of rice is provided daily to every adult living in the camps and 300 gm to minors. The package also has provisions for a cash dole of Rs 5 per adult per day and Rs 2.5 for every minor.

In October 2019, the supply of ration was stopped on the instructions of the Home Ministry in a bid to hastily complete the repatriation of refugees to Mizoram. Civil society outfits had alleged that at least six refugees died due to starvation. At least seven repatriation attempts have failed in the past 22 years.

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