AIZAWL: Mizoram is waiting for a relief package from the Centre for over 12,000 internally displaced people from violence-hit Manipur even a month after the state government had sought assistance from the Narendra Modi government, said a senior home department official on Monday.
Headed by Chief Minister Zoramthanga, the Mizo National Front (MNF) government, which is an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, had sought Rs. 10 crore as a relief package for the displaced people from Manipur.
State home commissioner and secretary H. Lalengmawia said that tourism minister Robert Romawia and some officials, including him, had met the Union Home Secretary and Home Additional Secretary in Delhi recently to release the money at the earliest.
“Even though the home secretary and additional secretary’s response were positive during the meeting, we have not received any word from the Centre regarding the relief package till today,” he said.
He said that he is not confident of receiving the assistance despite the fact that the Centre knew very well about the current situation in the state.
According to Lalengmawia, the state home department, which handles the displaced people from Manipur and refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, has to find an alternative as it could not receive relief packages in time.
He said that the state home department has sought assistance to the tune of Rs. 5 crore from the state finance department to provide relief to the displaced people from Manipur.
“We will also collect donations from legislators, employees of state government, central government, corporates and commercial banks, among others, to provide relief to the displaced people,” he said.
The senior official also said that some relief camps have begun to face a crisis of food and other relief materials due to a lack of funds.
Besides some financial help from the state government, donations from NGOs, churches and other well-wishers are not sufficient to feed over 12,000 displaced people, he said.
People from the strife-torn Manipur continue to flock to Mizoram as violence continues in the neighbouring state for 54 days since the ethnic violence broke out between two communities on May 3.
According to the state home department, at least 22 people have entered Mizoram in the past 2 days, raising the total number of displaced people, who took shelter in the state to 12,162 as of Monday.
The displaced people belonged to the Kuki-Hmar-Mizo-Zomi group, who share close ethnic ties with the Mizos.
Kolasib district, which borders Assam currently hosts the highest number of displaced people at 4,345, closely followed by Aizawl district at 4,047 and Saitual district at 2,940, the department said.
The displaced people took shelter in all the 11 districts and 827 people took shelter in the remaining 8 districts, it said.
The government and village authorities have set up 35 relief camps in Aizawl, Kolasib and Saitual districts.
Of the total 12,162 people, 2,937 are lodged at relief camps, while the remaining 9,225 live outside the relief camps- in relative houses or rented houses, the department also said.
Mizoram also currently hosts more than 35,000 refugees from coup-hit Myanmar and Bangladesh.