The last day of the verification process wrapped up in the fourth of six Bru relief camps on Thursday with no one turning up at the counters during the entire four-day process which began Monday.
The zero turn-out at Asapara relief camp means inmates from none of the four camps covered so far are willing to return to Mizoram from Tripura under a repatriation package offered by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The four camps covered so far are Kaskau, Khakchangpara, Hamsapara and Asapara. These together host more than 4300 adults whose names are on Mizoram’s electoral rolls.
Mamit District Additional Deputy Commissioner Lalbiaksangi said officials from Mizoram will set up verification counters at Naisingpara, the biggest relief camp and home to the displaced community’s top leaders, between July 28 and August 5.
Naisingpara hosts more than 4100 adults registered on Mizoram’s electoral rolls while Hazacherrra, the sixth camp, hosts more than 1000.
According to a roadmap prepared by the Mizoram and Tripura governments and the MHA, any Bru who wants to return home to Mizoram has to report at the verification counters so officials can cross-check if he or she is a bona-fide resident of Mizoram.
This has been necessitated because the relief camps are populated not just by Bru tribals who fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic violence, but also by Brus from Assam and other places in the region.