Tripura government to resume ration supply, Brus withdraw road blockade

AGARTALA: After eight days of road blockade and protests, the impasse over the Brus' repatriation to Mizoram ended, albeit temporarily, with the Tripura government saying it will resume ration supplies to the camps from Friday to November 30, the deadline for the ongoing ninth phase of repatriation to end.
Six refugees, including four children, have allegedly died of hunger in the camps since October 1, when the Centre stopped supplying ration to the Brus.
Tripura deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma, along with a host of ministers and MPs, conveyed the state government's decision to the refugees at the protest site on the Dasda-Anandabazar road in Kanchanpur of North Tripura district on Thursday. He also urged the protesting Brus to cooperate and make the repatriation a success.
"We will start ration supplies to the camps from Friday and continue it till November 30. It is our government, the Tripura government, which will give the ration this time," he said. "We (the BJP government at the Centre) have ended the Kashmir and the Naga problems. You can't live as refugees forever. You must accept the rehabilitation package and move back to live with dignity," he added.
Debburman also said the Bru leaders had been asked to come to Agartala so that the finer points of the rehabilitation package could be discussed. He was accompanied to the protest site by state law minister Ratan Lal Nath, social welfare minister Santana Chakma, tribal welfare minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia, MPs Pratima Bhowmik and Rebati Kumar Tripura.
Bru leaders welcomed the step but added that their larger demands for security and a better rehabilitation package remained intact and would determine if they would go back to Mizoram or not.
General secretary of Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) Bruno Msha said, "We are happy that ration will be resumed. But as we had said before, this was only our immediate demand. Our larger demands remain and should be fulfilled before we are sent back."
The state government's move to restore the meagre rations comes amid increasing pressure from tribal outfits, opposition parties and non-governmental organisations.
On Thursday, a group of Chakma unions, including Tripura Chakma Students' Association and Chakma National Council of India, met the protesters and criticised the government for the plight of the refugees. Earlier, too, a number of tribal outfits had extended support to the Brus and provided them with grain. The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections are to be held early next year.