“The Mizoram officials told us that in the first phase they would take back 4,656 refugees by vehicles and give them free ration for one year besides giving cash grants for house-building. The entire repatriation process would be completed in nine phases. We raised no objection because all that we want is repatriation of refugees,” said Chakma, who represented the Tripura government in yesterday’s discussion.
Chakma said after a devastating fire killed 16 inmates of Naisingpara refugee camp and injured 22 of them, the state government had complained to the Union home minister, P. Chidambaram, explaining the problems caused by the continuous stay of the refugees and Mizoram government’s reluctance to repatriate them. “We believe that Union home ministry had insisted on early repatriation, directing the Mizoram government to take early action, so the Mizo officials arrived here yesterday on their own,” said Chakma.
He said that Reang refugees had started pouring into Kanchanpur on October 15, 1997 following largescale violence and arson perpetrated by Mizos protesting against the demand for a district council in Reang-dominated areas of the district.
“The number of refugees had at one stage swelled to 40,000 but this stabilised at a little more than 30,000 after the Mizoram government repatriated about 4,000 camp inmates in 2009,” said Chakma. “Let us see how the repatriation process progresses this time,” said Chakma.
He also expressed fears that unless the refugees were repatriated, a major problem might arise in the camps because of anticipated outbreak of enteric and malarial diseases, like in previous years.
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