Twenty-five years after leaving their homestead in the Mamit, Kolasib, and Lunglei districts of Mizoram due to ethnic conflict, 400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Reang (Bru) community have now found permanent homes at Haduklau Para in Ambassa, Dhalai district, located 85 km away from Agartala.
As many as 37 Bru families that fled the ethnic conflict in 1997 are being permanently resettled in Tripura as per a four-corner agreement of the Government of India, the state governments of Tripura and Mizoram and the Bru migrants signed in January 2020. They are being settled in 12 villages in different districts of Tripura, eleven of which have already been finished setting up houses and necessary infrastructure like safe drinking water pipelines, power connections, solar-powered street lights, etc, to welcome their new residents.
Speaking at the inauguration and foundation stone laying of 13 development projects worth Rs 668.39 crore in different parts of Tripura at Kulai RF village ground in Ambassa of the Dhalai district, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said Bru migrants finally got their solution of settlement after 25 years of sub-human living conditions in transit camps of North Tripura district, only when BJP came to power in 2018.
Meanwhile, around 328 families from different Bru camps returned to Tripura in nine phases of repatriation, though 5,000 more arrived in 2009 in renewed clashes.
Naturally, after the permanent settlement plan started to be implemented in Tripura, the migrants welcomed it with great hope. However, the settlement plan underwent a series of discussions and changes, eventually accepting almost all of the migrants’ demands.
In a relief package announced by the Government of India six months after the arrival of Bru migrants in Tripura in 1997, every adult Bru person is entitled to receive 600 grams of rice daily, while minors are allocated 300 grams daily. The package also includes a cash allowance of Rs 5 per adult and Rs 2.5 per minor daily. Additionally, recipients are provided with one soap per year, a pair of slippers annually, and a mosquito net every three years.
The 2020 quadrupartite agreement included provisions to provide each person with 1,200 square feet of land, Rs 4 lakh for building houses, a one-time compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh, and a monthly social security pension of Rs 5,000. Additionally, beneficiaries would receive free rice until they are fully integrated into Tripura’s regular population.
While Manirung Reang and others feel they have got their promised benefits and are far too happy to be stepping into a “new dawn of life” as Shah chose to describe the new phase of their lives.
“We are very happy. We have got pucca (concrete) houses. We have got safe drinking water, power connections, roads, and anganwadi centres. We are very hopeful of a positive future now,” she said.
However, others, such as Reshmirung Reang, Emanti Reang, Gita Reang, and Ubati Reang, seemed to have conflicted feelings.
Reshmirung Reang, 66, from the Mamit district of Mizoram, left all her belongings and rushed to nearby Tripura. There, she and the other displaced people sought shelter at the Naisingpara Bru camp in Kanchanpur, North Tripura district. She is among the group of Bru migrants who have shifted to the Bruhapara camp.
Now that she has her new house and village, Reshmirung is happy. However, she feels that without land for ‘jhum’ cultivation in the new government-provided infrastructure, she is faced with serious indecision about the next phase of economic activity after the financial and ration support ends.
“We have no work now. My son works for a company, and he sends some money back home. We make do with whatever we can do locally. But we are pahariyas (hill people) and we want to do jhum. We want jhum land. We want to do our traditional forest land,” Reshmirung told indianexpress.com.
Chautha Reang is a 56-year-old man from Mamit district who rushed to the Ashapara IDP camp. “We have got land for our house, but no land in front of it. Without jhum, we are having difficulties in running daily affairs. We need land for jhum,” he said.
Chautha said he had come to meet the home minister to discuss the current situation. We want centrally sponsored scheme benefits, like special projects, for the work and livelihood of poor people,” he added.
Gomti Reang, a 58-year-old woman, used to live at Hazacherra IDP before moving to Bruhapara. She stated that she had received all the promised benefits under the quadrupartite agreement.
Asked what benefits she would want, Gomti said she feels plantation work, vocational training, assistance to access skilled job opportunities, etc, would help her get to a better life.
On a different issue, Home Minister Amit Shah said Brus were already provided power, brick soling roads, safe drinking water, connectivity till houses, solar street lights, free 35 kilograms of rice from the public distribution system (PDS), anganwadi, health centre and just inaugurated the next-level schooling.
“Their names were enlisted in voters’ lists, ration cards, and health cards, and they have been given employment through cooperatives. They are now owners of a 1,200-square-foot plot; every family got their houses with the assistance of the Government of India. Each family was provided Rs 1.5 lakh for building houses, Rs 4 lakh for their assistance, and 5,000 monthly assistance for 24 months,” he said.
The state government is also providing resettled Bru migrants with training and education in a wide variety of skills to empower them for a solid future.
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