State additional secretary for Home Lalbiakzama said that Mizoram Government was ready to resume the repatriation process and was only waiting for the release of the fund from the Centre for the purpose.
“The remaining fund for the repatriation, earlier released by the Union Home Ministry was being used for providing free ration to the repatriated Bru families, now resettled in their original villages in the Mizoram-Tripura-Bangladesh border Mamit district,” he said.
He said that the Centre has extended the time for providing free ration to the repatriated Brus from one year to two years.
In regard to the increase of the rehabilitation and resettlement package from Rs 85,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh as demanded by the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), Lalbiakzama said they should submit the demand to the Centre, not to the State Government.
Earlier, in a meeting convened by the Union Home Ministry in Delhi on January 30 and attended by officials from Mizoram and Tripura, it was decided that all the Brus should be repatriated within six months and those who refuse to return to Mizoram should be allowed to remain in Tripura.