Aizawl: The Mizoram government is planning to relocate over 2,000 Bangladeshi nationals taking shelter in different villages in south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district to a designated zone within the same district.
Lalmuanpuia Punte, political adviser to the chief minister, who heads a study committee on the relocation of displaced people, said that the committee is assessing the feasibility of the proposed relocation.
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He said that the government is planning to relocate and bring the Bangladeshi nationals together in four villages within the Lawngtlai district near the Bangladesh border rather than be scattered in different villages.
The relocation is being mulled for administrative convenience, to facilitate humanitarian assistance and to allow the Bangladeshi nationals to support and earn a living for themselves, he said.
According to the state home department, altogether 2,014 Bangladeshi nationals mostly from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are currently taking shelter in Lawngtlai district, which shares borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
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Punte, who is also a ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) legislator, said that the government is of the opinion that proper guidelines should be formulated to prevent the refugees from settling and shifting anywhere they want.
On the relocation of Myanmar nationals and internally displaced people from Manipur taking shelter in different parts of the state, he said that there are no current plans for their resettlement as they are expected to return to their native villages soon because the situations in Myanmar and Manipur are gradually improving.
Besides the Bangladeshi nationals, Mizoram provides shelter to 33,023 Myanmar nationals and 7,118 displaced people from Manipur, the home department said.