As per the decision of the Union home ministry and the Mizoram government, 141 Bru refugees were scheduled to be repatriated to three selected villages in western Mizoram.
Two members team of the Mizoram government, accompanied by Tripura officials, arrived in Thamshapara camp in Kanchanpur early in the morning but the refugees refused to leave for Mizoram.
"We arranged 30 vehicles for the refugees to be sent back home, but despite our repeated appeals they refused to go back," said sub-divisional magistrate of Kanchanpur Dilip Chakma.
They did not cite any specific reason for their refusal to go back to their homeland except that they were happy living in the refugee camps and satisfied with the amenities there.
As many as 33,000 Bru tribes had been provided shelter in six different camps of North Tripura district adjoining Mizoram in October 1997 following ethnic atrocities. Several rounds of talks involving the Centre failed to resolve the issue even as the refugees led a wretched life in the camps because of increasing population and limited amenities.
Recently, the refugees had agreed to go back home after a meeting with Union home minister P Chidambaram and Mizoram chief minister Lalthanhawla. Accordingly, a decision was taken to repatriate them in a phased manner and as many as 300 families have been repatriated over the past one year.
About 669 Bru families were to be repatriated to Mizoram on April 26.