Free ration supply to Bru refugee camps in Tripura will stop from January 15.
"We have received instructions from the Centre to discontinue free
ration to the (Bru) refugee camps. The administration is also preparing
to withdraw its ration distribution office from January 16," Abhedananda
Baidya, sub-divisional magistrate of Kanchanpur, said.
The Brus, who fled Mizoram
in 1997 after ethnic clashes, have been living in six refugee camps in
North Tripura ever since. Last year, after an agreement between the
Centre, Tripura government, Mizoram government and the Mizoram Bru
Displaced People's Forum (the Bru representative body), arrangements
were made for all Bru refugees to return to their home state by
September 25. Mizoram was to go to the polls in November. After the
deadline, the Centre had said, all aid to the camps would stop.
The repatriation process was unsuccessful this time, as it had been in all earlier attempts over the past two decades. And the Centre followed through on its warning, but resumed ration supply after protests by Bru refugee leaders
Source: TOI
