AP Maheswari with other officials. Image: Northeast Now

Since last 16 days, the ration has been stopped in 10 Bru refugee camps located in Kanchanpur under North Tripura district.

In this situation, a meeting was organized at state guest house in Agartala about the repatriation issue.

MHA special secretary (Internal Security) A P Maheshwari was present in that meeting on behalf of the central government.

Also read: Mizoram: Ninth batch of Bru repatriation begins on Tuesday

Later he told to the reporters the central government has taken a clear stand that Bru refugee camps cannot continue in Tripura anymore.

They should go to Mizoram first and then their demands will be listened to by the government, he added.

Maheshwari told the government is ready to help them.

Government of India has already finalized the scheme of resettlement in 2018 and everybody should respect the agreement, he added.

In that four corner meeting, central government officials, Tripura government officials, Mizoram government officials and Bru refugee leaders were present.

Several memoranda were given by the refugee leaders in that meeting.

About their demands Maheshwari said Bru refugees have raised some apprehensions about security.

But India government assures them to safeguard the security and human rights of every member of the Bru community, he added.

Developmental gaps which might be perceived will be addressed by best resources so that they can come at par with the rest of India.

At the meeting, the Bru leaders demanded Autonomous District Council in Mizoram for the Bru people as a condition of going back.

It is notable that, 37,000 Bru people fled from Mizoram during ethnic strife in 1997.

They took shelter in six makeshift relief camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions of the North Tripura district.

Twenty-two years on, 32,000 of them still live in these relief camps.

Around 5,000 displaces returned in eight phases of repatriation held till Wednesday.

Northeast Now is a multi-app based hyper-regional bilingual news portal. Mail us at: contact@nenow.in

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