PTI
Agartala, August 26
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]ore than 30,000 displaced Reang/Bru tribal people from neighbouring Mizoram, sheltered in seven camps in North Tripura district, today demanded a status like Kashmiri Pandits or Tamil refugees, for the better living conditions.
Mizo Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), the only organisation of the inmates submitted a 13-point charter of demands including the status like Kashmiri Pandits or Tamil refugees to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) delegation led by its Additional Secretary Rajib Gauba when it visited the camps, MBDPF general secretary Bruno Mesa told PTI over phone.
Mesa said the inmates were living in “inhuman” conditions for the last 17 years since they trickled into the camps following ethnic clashes with the Mizos.“There is no school for the children. Though a few schools were being run by some NGOs, they closed down due to funds crunch. There is hardly any health care provision for the inmates. There is no toilet and bathrooms and our people bathe in small streams and face acute drinking water shortage. Infant mortality is high because there is no vaccine or nutrition for them,” Mesa alleged.
He said, since repatriation would not be completed shortly, the living condition of the camp inmates should be improved and they should be given proper healthcare and opportunity for education.
For a permanent solution, the Bru people should be repatriated in their homeland in Mizoram with adequate land, compensation and proper security, Mesa said.
“We have demanded setting up of cluster of villages for our repatriation. There should be at least grouping of 500 families in a cluster with all modern amenities for education, health care and livelihood. We have also demanded security from the onslaught of the Mizos, by central paramilitary forces,” he added.
There are 30,289 people from 5,290 families in the seven evacuee camps. The MHA team would submit its report to the Ministry by September 12.
