Brus
File image of Bru refugees. Image - Northeast Now

Alarmed by the delay in the supply of ration for 20 days, an organization of Bru refugees living in relief camps in Tripura on Saturday threatened to loot a government godown at Gachiramparan.

Meanwhile, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) has expressed their concern over the delay in the supply of ration.

According to reports, a central rehabilitation package granted to the Bru refugees living in relief camps allows Rs five per day to each adult, Rs 2.5 to each minor, 600 gram of rice to each adult on a daily basis, three soaps in a year, one pair of slippers every year and a mosquito net in every three years.

Due to the delay of ration supplies, MBDPF general secretary Bruno Msha and president A Sawibunga jointly wrote a letter to North Tripura District Magistrate CK Jamiyat.

They stated in their letter that rations should be received by the refugees from first to fifth of every month.

The letter also mentioned that the ration for the month of April has not been received till now and the condition of the refugees in the relief camps is becoming worse as their past ration supplies have been almost exhausted.

The MBDPF letter also claimed that ration supplies to the camps were delayed by 10-20 days every month since the last four years.

The letter also mentioned a request to the government to take immediate steps to supply ration to the Bru refugees otherwise they might launch a democratic agitation including a blockade of road and looting of nearest Government relief Godown under the banner of MBDPF.

Kanchanpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Abhedananda Baidya said that ration supplies are getting delayed due to official formalities.

He also said that according to a new order, the ration supplies till September were extended but formalities are taking some time.

The ration supplies are supposed to be dispatched to the camps within one or two days.

Over 37000 Bru tribals fled Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei districts of Mizoram during ethnic clashes in 1997. They were sheltered in six major relief camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions of northern Tripura.