SC has approved road map to bring home displaced Brus within 6 months: Mizoram Home Minister

Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana told the state assembly on Wednesday that the Social Justice Bench of the Supreme Court has approved the state’s road map to bring home internally displaced Bru tribals from Tripura in the next six months.

He said the process will start as soon as the Union Home Ministry (MHA) releases the funds.

Replying to a starred question by opposition MLA Lalruatkima, the Home Minister said 5,481 displaced Bru families, made up of 29,625 people, were living in the six relief camps at Tripura. He based the information on a census conducted by the Bru Coordination Committee in 2010.

The BCC is an organisation of Bru tribal leaders who have returned to Mizoram from Tripura. It is headed by former relief camp leader Elvis Chorky, and has been assisting the Mizoram government in the MHA-funded repatriation process.

Roughly 1,200 displaced Bru families have returned home since 2010, either on their own or through the repatriation process. The government is in the midst of verifying the credentials of an additional 500-odd families who have reported they have returned home, which makes them eligible to receive a compensation package that includes cash, free rations and land.

Official records put the total number of displaced Bru families that have voting rights in Mizoram who continue to live in the relief camps at around 4000.

Lalzirliana said the state government began working on the road-map earlier this month and the Home Department officials have already met with administrators in three Mizoram districts that will host the returning families in the months ahead.

Source:: Indian Express