Six Tripura officials have been served legal notice for stopping ration to the Bru refugee camps.
Ration supply to Bru refugee camps was stopped by the Centre from October 1 this year, after the refugees refused to return to Mizoram under a repatriation scheme.
Advocate Ali Zia Kabir Choudhury, a lawyer from the Bru refugee side in Supreme Court served the legal notice to six Tripura government officials.
According to Ali Zia Kabir Choudhury, there was an order that Tripura government could not stop the ration and cash dole supply to the Bru refugee camps.
By stopping the ration supply to the camps the State Government has ignored and violated the apex court order.
In his legal letter Ali Zia Kabir Choudhury has written, “We have learned that your administration has stopped the ration, cash dole, and such other critical relief services at the seven Bru IDP relief camps in Tripura, creating a dire circumstance for the refugees, resulting, so far, in the death due to starvations of six persons, among others…..in addition, it is learned that you are threatening to close the relief camps on 30.11.2019 and then there are reports of sporadic violence by the police authorities against the IDPs”.
The officials are special secretary of home minister (internal security) Dr A P Maheswari, DGP of Tripura Akhil Kumar Shukla, district magistrate of North Tripura district Raval Hamendra Kumar, SDM of Kanchanpur Abhedananda Baidya, SDM of Dharmanagar Subrata Kumar Dash, SDM of Panisagar Lalnunnemi Darlong.
The Central Government has decided it will not continue the refugee camps at Kanchanpur anymore.
After that from October 31 the refugees started road blockade and agitation program at Kanchanpur.
On November 7, after the eight day of movement, a high powered ministerial team went to Kanchanpur to sort out the tangled repatriation process of Bru refugees from Mizoram stranded in north Tripura.
The team comprised deputy chief minister Jishnu Debbarma, education minister Ratan Lal Nath, tribal welfare minister Mewav Kumar Jamatia and minister for social welfare Santana Chakma.
After the meeting, the deputy chief minister announced the state government will provide ration to the camps.
Later the Bru refugee withdrew their road blockade and agitation programme.