AGARTALA, June 21 (TIWN):The ongoing 6th Phase of Bru Repatriation has been extended for the whole of this week by the Mizoram Government though earlier scheduled for only two days- 17th and 18th of this month said home department official of Tripura government.

Meanwhile,over 800 Reang (Brus) refugees of the 6th Batch have been repatriated from Tripura and were rehabilitated in 22 villages of their home state Mizoram .Each of the families would be given a rehabilitation of Rs.80,000 for house construction, Rs.5500 for conveyance and Rs.2000 for makeshift. They would also be provided rice free of cost for one year.

It is worth mentioning here that the relationship between the Mizos and the Brus has not been going well in the past 15 years. Hundreds of Brus had left Mizoram in 1997 and in 2009.The first case was triggered when Bru militants murdered two Mizos who were forest guards on October 21, 1997 .

The second case happened after a 17-year-old Mizo boy was killed by the Brus near Bungthuam village on November 13, 2009.When the Bru left Mizoram they had driven out some Mizos in villages of Sakhan Hill Range in Tripura like Sakhan Serhmun, Sakhan Tlangsang, Sakhan Tualsen and Upper Dosda which had kicked up much ruckus in Mizoram then.

Meanwhile, a couple of years ago, head count conducted by the MBDPF found that there had been 31,703 Brus in the relief camps belonging to 5,448 families who were bona fide residents of Mizoram.
The repatriation of the 1997 batch of Bru refugees was underway until it stalled by the November 13 killing.