‘Fenced-out’ Tribals Yet To Shift To Mizoram

Aizawl, Sep 2 : Despite instructions from the Indo-Bangla Border Fencing Compensation Demand Committee's (IBBFCDC), at least 450 families, mainly from Chakma and Bru communities, are yet to shift to the Mizoram side of the India-Bangladesh border.

IBBFCDC leaders said 450 families, who are living beyond the fence demarcating the border, had been ordered to relocate within the Indian territory. However, the families have not shifted, claiming they had not been able to shift as they have not received any compensation from the government.

"The contractors in charge of the border fencing delayed paying compensation," one of them said, adding that only those whose lands were damaged in the fencing process have been compensated.

Most of the affected people belonged to south Mizoram's Lunglei district and hail from Malsuri, Tablabangh, Bindasora, Silkur, Tipperaghat, Khojoysuri, Bandiasora and Nakuksora villages. Many families have lost their homes, kitchen gardens and cultivable land due to the 319-km-long India-Bangladesh border fence in the Mizoram sector.