Tripura: 2000 Bru Families Await Monthly Allowance a Year After Resettlement

AGARTALA: Approximately 2,000 Bru families, who were relocated to Dhalai district in Tripura as part of a resettlement agreement three years ago, have reported not receiving their monthly stipends for the past year. The delay in payments has placed these internally displaced tribal families, who fled ethnic conflicts in Mizoram, in financial distress, according to a leader of the resettled community.

Karanjoy Reang, the assistant in-charge of the Bruhapara settlement area, penned a letter to the District Magistrate SS Jaiswal highlighting the issue. The letter stated that the Bru families had not received their monthly allowances since October 2022.

A senior state government official attributed the delay to possible technical difficulties, clarifying that the stipend is provided by the Central government.

Reang's letter to the district magistrate read, "The delay in obtaining the monthly cash assistance will put the Bru families in great financial difficulty. In this context, I request you to kindly take the necessary steps to ensure that they can receive cash assistance."

As per the agreement signed in January 2020, each of the 6,953 Bru families is entitled to a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000 for two years, as well as other benefits such as a plot of land, Rs 1.5 lakh for housing construction, and a one-time allowance of Rs 4 lakh. The pact was inked by representatives of the Bru community, the Central government, and the governments of Tripura and Mizoram in New Delhi.

Bruno Msha, the general secretary of the Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples' Forum (MBDPF), expressed concern over the irregular distribution of the monthly allowance, causing hardship for the permanently resettled Bru families. He stated that they had raised the issue with district authorities but had not seen any improvement.

Paramananda Sarkar Banerjee, OSD to the Chief Minister, clarified that the stipend for the Bru settlers is directly provided by the Central government, and the release of stipends is not pending. Any delay may be attributed to technical issues in the digital payment process.

Msha also alleged that, despite assurances, not every family had received land. According to him, over 600 Bru families out of the 6,953 resettled families have not yet found new homes due to shifting locations in Dhalai and North Tripura districts.

The Bru tribal people have been residing in relief camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions since 1997, when they fled their home state of Mizoram due to ethnic clashes. Their numbers have since grown to over 30,000.

The Bru issue arose in September 1997, sparked by demands for a separate autonomous district council in western Mizoram bordering Bangladesh and Tripura. Ethnic clashes prompted many Bru people to flee to Tripura, a situation exacerbated by the murder of a forest guard by Bru National Liberation Front insurgents on October 21 of the same year.

Multiple attempts were made by the Central government, along with the governments of Tripura and Mizoram, to repatriate the Bru people to their home state, with limited success. The last repatriation attempt took place in 2019.

Many Bru families refused to return to Mizoram, citing security concerns and inadequate rehabilitation packages. Others sought a separate autonomous council for the community. However, the January 2020 agreement granted these tribal people permanent settlement in Tripura.

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