Tripura has identified 18 locations to permanently settle the Brus living in six relief camps in North district.
“Following a direction from the state government, the district magistrates of all the eight districts of Tripura have identified 18 locations across the state to permanently settle the displaced Brus. Now, the government will verify these lands and will decide where and how to settle them,” law minister Ratan Lal Nath told The Telegraph.
On January 17, chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb had said that his government would take at least six months to settle the displaced Brus permanently in the state. The Brus are now living in two relief camps in two sub-divisions, Kanchanpur and Panisagar, of North district, around 180km from here.
Nath said they could settle only 300 families in one location. “We shall establish Eklavya schools for them and they might need agricultural land. So, if we settle more than 300 families in one location, it will be congested,” he said. There are 5,400 displaced Bru families living in Tripura.
On January 16, a quadripartite agreement was signed by the Union, Tripura and Mizoram governments with Bru leaders for permanent settlement of 36,000 displaced Bru people in Tripura.
According to the pact, every Bru family will get one 40x30 feet house plot, Rs 1.5 lakh to build the house, Rs 4 lakh fixed deposit in the name of the family and Rs 5,000 per month as financial aid along with free rations for the next two years. A Rs 600-crore package has been sanctioned to resettle the Brus in Tripura.
“Our government will also provide them with Permanent Resident of Tripura Certificate (PRTC), Aadhaar card, Scheduled Tribes (ST) certificate and ration card. They will get the same benefits as the ST people in the state,” Nath said.
Asked about the Bengali families affected in alleged anti-CAA violence in Kanchanpur subdivision, he said 107 families were living in relief camps and had been compensated. “Of the total loss, around 80 per cent compensation has been provided. For this, our government had to spend Rs 1.31 crore and every affected family received Rs 60,000,” Nath said.
