Aizawl: At least 293 people, including 148 children, from Bangladesh, have taken shelter in south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district since November 20, an official said on Monday.
The ethnic Kuki-Chin or Mizo refugees fled from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) due to the recent clashes between the Bangladesh Army and Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), an ethnic insurgent group, Lawngtlai district nodal officer of refugees TT Beikhaizi said.
There are 161 women and girls among the Bangladeshi nationals taking shelter at Parva-3 village, she said.
The refugees are provided temporary shelter at Parva-3 and are lodged in schools, a health sub-centre and an Anganwadi centre, she said.
The district administration is closely monitoring the refugees, Beikhaizi, who is a sub-divisional officer (Sadar), said.
Apart from district administration, individuals, churches and NGOs, including Lawngtlai-based Central Young Lai Association (CYLA), provided food and other reliefs to them, she said.
Meanwhile, Lawngtlai deputy commissioner Amol Srivastava on Monday convened a meeting with officials, NGOs and other concerned authorities, to review the situation and discuss the provision of humanitarian assistance to Bangladeshi nationals, an official statement said.
Srivastava informed the meeting the district administration has taken prompt action once it learnt of the influx of people from Bangladesh, the statement issued by the state information and public relations department said.
He said that constant steps are being taken to provide shelter and relief to the Bangladeshi nationals.
The deputy commissioner also told the meeting that the Bangladeshi nationals, who sought shelter in Mizoram, should be assisted not on community lines but on the humanitarian ground because they are human beings.
He also thanked churches, NGOs and individual donors, who extended assistance to the refugees.
The meeting also discussed action plans in view of possible fresh influx from the neighbouring country, the official statement said.
Mizoram shares a 318-km-long international border with Bangladesh.