Aizawl: The repatriated Brus (Reangs) are demanding a uniform financial package, failing which they have threatened to boycott the last batch of Bru families in Tripura, who are waiting to be rehabilitated in Mizoram.
The repatriated Brus formed a committee, Equal Package Demand Committee, on Friday to register their demands. It is headed by Elvis Chorkhy, chairman of Bru Coordination Committee (BCC) and former president of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), an apex body of displaced Bru families in Tripura.
Chorkhy told The Telegraph that the committee was formed by over 100 Brus, settled in western Mizoram's Mamit town, bordering Tripura and Bangladesh, to spearhead the demand for a rehabilitation package for repatriated Bru families on a par with those who will be repatriated soon.
He said while the repatriated Brus had received a one-time package of Rs 80,000 per family and free ration for a year, the last batch waiting to be repatriated would get a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000 per family for two years, free ration for the same period, Rs 4 lakh per family at the end of three years and housing assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh, according the quadripartite agreement signed between the Centre, the governments of Tripura and Mizoram and the MBDPF.
Chorkhy, quoting the Mizoram government's record, said 1,712 Bru families have already returned to the state in batches since 2010. A last batch of about 32,857 Bru refugees from 5,413 families, who are living in six relief camps in Tripura, will start returning to Mizoram from August in phases.
A majority of the repatriated families live in Mamit district while some live in Kolasib, Lunglei and Lawngtlai districts, he said, adding that these families live from hand to mouth.
"Our main demand is equal rehabilitation with those Bru families who will be repatriated soon. We deserve the same facilities, as we have returned to Mizoram first. We believe in first come first serve. We will boycott the upcoming repatriation if the government fails to meet our demand before August 14," he said.
Chorkhy, who is also a member of the joint monitoring committee for Bru repatriation, has raised the demand for a uniform rehabilitation package several times but the government turned a deaf ear to it. The matter was again raised at the time of signing of the quadripartite agreement in New Delhi on July 3 but the government failed to give them any assurance. He said they would write to the Centre again this week.
The threat by repatriated Brus worsens a situation rife with uncertainty following the withdrawal of the MPDPF from the quadripartite agreement.
Though the MBDPF has pulled out of the agreement, the Mizoram government is set to begin the repatriation process from August 14 and complete it in phases by September 10.