Sunday, May 27, 2012

49 displaced Mizo families rehabilitated

Aizawl, May 28 : Forty-nine displaced Mizo families, driven out from Sakhan range in Tripura in 1998, have been rehabilitated by the Mizoram government in Mamit district on Tripura border, a top district official said today. Èach displaced family was given Rs 1.5 lakh as agreed by the Union Home Ministry for rehabilitation and resettlement, Deputy Commissioner Rodney L. Ralte today said. Ralte said "the rehabilitation amount was disbursed from the fund allocated for repatriation of the Bru refugees from North Tripura relief camps and would be adjusted when the Union Home Ministry provides for the package." Displaced Mizo families, who had returned to Sakhan range, were yet to be rehabilitated as the money was to be disbursed through the Tripura government, senior home department officials here said. At least 83 Mizo families were driven out of the orange-rich Sakhan range by Bru community in 1998 in the aftermath of the communal flare-up in Mizoram due to the murder of a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve by Bru militants on October 21, 1997. The ongoing repatriation of Bru refugees was stalled in June last year as all the major NGOs and political parties insisted that displaced Mizos be first rehabilitated before resumption of the repatriation process. The repatriation process resumed from April 26 last after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram promised that the displaced Mizo families would be rehabilitated.