Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga in a letter had requested his Tripura counterpart Biplab Kumar Deb to reconsider the plan rehabilitating 34,000 odd displaced Brus in Mizo dominated areas.
The letter cited a proposal for re-settlement of a good number of displaced Brus residing in Tripura at Mizo-inhabited Zampui-Hills and surrounding areas under Kanchanpur Sub-Division in North Tripura.
It mentioned the fact that Mizos in four villages of Sakhan Hills had fled their traditional villages due to tensions with Brus displaced from Mizoram, back in 1998.
He also addressed the ethnic tension and upheaval between Mizos and Brus, both in Mizoram and Tripura. He also wrote that in case of any strain between the two communities in Tripura will no doubt have repercussions in Mizoram and vice versa.
Chief Minister Zoramthanga, stated in his letter that in such case the very purpose and spirit of the Agreement signed between representatives of the Bru community, Chairman TIPRA, Chief Secretary of Tripura, Chief Secretary of Mizoram, Joint Secretary (Ministry of Home Affairs) on 16.1.2020 could get defeated.
The Minister requested Deb to immediately re-consider and cancel the proposal for re-settlement of displaced Brus at the traditional habitat of the Mizos i.e Zampui Hills and surrounding areas in North Tripura and arrangement of other appropriate locations is inevitable if the historic Agreement signed on 16.1.2020 is to be successfully implemented in letter and spirit.
Earlier, there had been a decision to repatriate Bru families with a convincing package of rehabilitation in three districts of Western and Northern parts of Mizoram but Brus did not agree with the plan but demanded cluster-based rehabilitation of their choice and a provision of a Separate Autonomous District Council (ADC) for Brus, which was not acceptable to the Mizoram government.
Finally, Tripura government in a quadruplet agreement in January this year had announced to settle them in 20 locations in different districts of the state and identified about 5500 acres of land. The civil society organisation under the banner of Nagarik Suraksha Manch (NSM) has launched movement against the decision of Tripura government apprehending inter-community clashes and sudden increase of tribal population. thenortheasttoday
