Bru leaders on Saturday said the keeping the community in different locations would cause socio-economic problems for the government and locals, two days after the BJP-led Tripura government announced to have identified 18 locations to rehabilitate the displaced people.

Speaking to this correspondent, the general secretary of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), Bruno Msha, welcomed the decision of the state government to settle the Brus permanently in the state, but said they should be settled in cluster villages.

“In January there was a meeting in Guwahati involving central and state officials and Forum leaders. The convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (Neda) Himanta Biswa Sarma, Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Deb Burman were also present in the meeting and they decided to keep the Bru people in cluster villages. Deb agreed not to keep the Brus scattered because then there would be a problem for the state government. There are language and socio-cultural issues among others. So keeping the Brus scattered may not be the solution and it will create further panic. So it will not be possible. The government should rethink it,” Bruno said.

On Thursday, law minister Ratan Lal Nath said the district magistrates of all the eight districts of Tripura had identified 18 locations across the state to permanently settle the displaced Brus who are now living in six relief camps in the North Tripura district, around 180km from here.

He also said the recent movement of the Mizo NGOs and Nagarik Suraksha Mancha (NSM) in Kanchanpur subdivision had created an environment of insecurity and panic among the people in the relief camps.

“The Mizo people and the NSM are also not happy. They have organised so many agitations here demanding not to settle us in the subdivision. It is just after signing of the pact that a section of politicians with vested interest has started provoking the locals,” Bruno said.

The supporters of the NSM and the Mizo NGOs have alleged that trouble between ethnic communities and the Bengalis started in Kanchanpur since the arrival of the displaced Brus from Mizoram in 1997.

They alleged that residents of 13 villages, including 10 villages inhabited by the Bengalis at Kanchanpur and three Mizo villages in Jampui Hills, were forcefully evicted by the Bru migrants. The NSM and the Mizo organisations want “the residents” rehabilitated there with proper package.

The Mizo organisations that have teamed up with the NSM include the Mizo Convention, Young Mizo Association and the Mizo Forum among others. All of them are based in the Jampui hill range under Kanchanpur subdivision.

On Saturday, the Bru leaders submitted a memorandum to Deb through subdivisional magistrate Chandni Chandran seeking special security for the Bru inmates.

It said the allegations that the Brus took part in anti-CAA agitations were completely false and aimed to mislead the people of Tripura and create enmity.

The Bru leaders have demanded deployment of central security forces for the protection of the Brus, saying the NSM and the Mizo NGOs would be responsible if there was any unnatural death of any member of the displaced Brus.