"Share Everything": Biplab Deb's Message At Resettlement Village For Brus

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday visited Hadukuluk, a small village in Dhalai district, where the Bru Refugees are being resettled to end over-two-decade-old impasse. The Brus fled Mizoram amid ethnic tension in 1997.

Mr Deb - under whose tenure the quadripartite accord between the Tripura and Mizoram state governments along with the Bru refugee representatives and the Centre was signed January last year - extended support to those rehabilitated during his village visit. Some 35,000 Brus are to be resettled.

Altogether 426 Brus, who were living in a relief camp in North Tripura district, have been rehabilitated to Hadukuluk on April 19. They will set up houses on land provided by the government.

Work for rehabilitation of the Brus is progressing well with the coordinated efforts of the administration and community leaders, Mr Deb said, asking those who were allotted land there to settle before the rainy season starts.

"I will visit this place again after a year, when it will turn into a beautiful village. I will also request you [Brus] to maintain a good relationship with local people and share everything with them," the Chief Minister said.

The 426 people who were shifted to Hadukuluk are the first batch to be rehabilitated in another place in Tripura, following the agreement.

A 1,200 square feet plot has been allotted to each rehabilitated Bru family and they will now have to set up a home on that with an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh provided by the government. They are currently living in tents.

The agreement guarantees a fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakh for each family, a monthly sum of Rs 5,000 and free monthly ration for two years and schools in all cluster villages.

"There was a time when I had apprehensions on the success of this plan. But it was a historic day when the Brus had left for the place for settlement from the camp on April 19," Mr Deb said.

The centre has provided a package of Rs 600 crore for a permanent solution to their problems, he had said earlier.

An official, who oversees the entire rehabilitation process, said that 1,638 Bru families will be rehabilitated at four places - Hadukuluk and Bongaphapara in Dhalai district and Kaskau and Waimbukcherra-Ranipara in North Tripura district.

The state government is awaiting clearance from the central government for nine more places to resettle the remaining Bru people, he said.