Resettlement process of displaced Mizoram tribals in Tripura to be sped up

Agartala: The Tripura government would further expedite the process of rehabilitation of over 37,000 Reang tribals, who fled Mizoram 25 years ago following ethnic troubles in there, officials said here on Wednesday.

An official of Tripura's Revenue Department said that 37,136 displaced Reang tribals comprising 6,959 families are being rehabilitated in 12 locations in four of Tripura's districts - North Tripura, Dhalai, Gomati, and South Tripura.

"The target for the resettlement of these displaced Reang tribals by August 31 could not be achieved due to the numerous land related issues, forest land clearance, fresh troubles, threats of agitation against the rehabilitation and numerous other issues," the official, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

He said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the implementation of the quadripartite agreement with Chief Minister Manik Saha in Delhi on Tuesday. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Tripura Chief Secretary J.K. Sinha and senior Home Ministry officials were also present in the meeting.

According to the official, so far, 3,696 of the 6,959 families have been resettled and the rest are in the process.

House construction has been completed for 2,407 families so far. Various certificates as in for Permanent Resident of Tripura, and Scheduled Tribe status, Aadhaar cards, and inclusion of names in the Tripura electoral rolls are being issued for the resettled tribal families, he said.

To rehabilitate the displaced Reangs by August 31, 2022, a quadripartite agreement was signed in January 2020 between the Centre, Tripura and Mizoram governments and the Reang tribal leaders.

The agreement provides a comprehensive package for each family being rehabilitated. The Reang tribals, locally called "Bru", were to be included as voters in Tripura as maintained in the agreement and the Centre had announced a Rs 600 crore package for the settlement of the Reangs, recognised as a primitive tribe in Tripura.

According to the officials of the Tripura Election Department, altogether 5,664 Reang tribals have been enrolled in the electoral rolls so far.

As per the agreement, the each Reang tribal family entitled to get one-time financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh as fixed deposit for two years, a piece of land in clusters measuring 30 x 40 feet for construction of a house, house building assistance of Rs 150,000, monthly cash assistance of Rs 5,000 per month for a period of two years, and free ration for two years from the date of resettlement.

Over 38,072 Reang tribal migrants, comprising 7,364 families including women and children, had sheltered in seven camps in northern Tripura's Kanchanpur and nearby Panisagar Sub-Divisions since 1997 after the ethnic troubles began in Mizoram.

A total of 6,367 tribals returned to Mizoram in eight phases after the Centre, Mizoram and Tripura governments had made many attempts to repatriate them between 2009 and 2019 but the majority were reluctant to return to their home state unless their demands, including security and livelihood, were fulfilled.