Objections have been raised to the permanent settlement of displaced Brus in Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura district and a demand made to resettle them outside.

The objections and the demand have been made by two social organisations of the subdivision, the Mizo Convention and the Yuva Nagarik Suraksha Mancha.

Mizo Convention, an organisation of Mizo people living in Jampui hills of the subdivision, submitted a memorandum to chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Saturday. “We…the people of Jampui hills….raised our strong objection to the proposed settlement of displaced Mizoram Brus at CCRF, Behliangchhip and Paschim Hmunpui moujas or at any other location adjacent to our Mizo traditional boundaries of Jampui hills. Except for the Brus, none of the other local community, who are important stakeholders, have been consulted by the government in the whole process,” the memorandum signed by its general secretary Zairemthiama Pachau and president David Ralte, said.

It said they don’t have enough land and forest resources to accommodate such a huge population and alleged that communal harmony had deteriorated in Kanchanpur with the arrival of the Brus from Mizoram in 1997 and they don’t want it to get worse with their continued and permanent stay in the area.

“Non-compliance with our request can result in severe demographic imbalance, land crisis, social disturbance, communal conflict and damage to environment, amongst others. We, therefore, request you to kindly consider our plea and take appropriate action accordingly,” it said.

Yuva Nagarik Suraksha Mancha, an organisation of Bengalis living across the subdivision, submitted a memorandum to Kanchanpur subdivisional magistrate Chandni Chandran with the demand. It threatened to resume its movement against the displaced Brus and launch an indefinite strike if its demand is not met.

The Kanchanpur administration said a schedule had been made during a meeting on April 28 to visit 12 proposed land sites with leaders from all the five Bru organisations for the resettlement of Bru people in Tripura.

Of these, five land sites have been identified in North district, one in Unakoti, three near Dhalai district and one each in Khowai, West and Sepahijala districts.

However, the scheduled visit has been postponed because of the extension of the lockdown till May 17, an official of North district administration said.