Mizoram parties welcome Bru deal

AIZAWL: Mizoram has welcomed the agreement signed in Delhi on Thursday to settle more than 30,000 Brus in Tripura where they have been living since 1997.
"The meeting of council of ministers chaired by Mizoram CM Zoramthanga on November 8, 2019 (when the government-sponsored repatriation was underway) decided that there should be no more repatriation process in future," said a press statement issued by Mizo National Front.It praised the Centre, the Tripura government, Mizoram civil society and Bru organisations for their efforts to find an amicable and lasting solution to the Bru problem.
The state unit of BJP was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah for being instrumental in solving the Bru issue once and for all. The opposition Congress, other political parties and student bodies also expressed their happiness
On Thursday, Shah presided over the signing of the agreement between the Government of India, governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives in New Delhi. Mizoram CM Zoramthanga, his Tripura counterpart Biplab Kumar Deb, Neda chairman Himanta Biswa Sarma, TIPRA chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, representatives of Bru tribes and other senior officers were also present.
Shah said around 34,000 Bru refugees will be settled in Tripura and would be given aid from the Centre to help with their rehabilitation and all round development. "These people (Brus-Reangs) would get all the rights that normal residents of the states get and they would now be able to enjoy the benefits of social welfare schemes of the Centre and state government as well," he added.
Under the new arrangement, each displaced family would be given a 40x30 sqft residential plots, in addition to the aid under earlier agreement of a fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakh, Rs 5,000 cash aid per month for 2 years, free ration for 2 years and Rs. 1.5 lakh aid to build their house. The government of Tripura would provide land under this agreement.
The vexed Bru problem arose when Bru bodies, spearheaded by Bru National Union (BNU), demanded a separate autonomous district council by carving out areas of western Mizoram adjoining Bangladesh and Tripura on September 23 and 24, 1997. The situation aggravated after the murder of Lalzawmliana, a forest guard working in the Dampa Tiger Reserve near Persang hamlet within the reserve, by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) insurgents on October 21, 1997.