Tripura: Death Toll Rises to Four Due to Starvation in Bru Camps

Agartala, November 4, 2019:

Two more deaths have been reported from Bru refugee camps in North Tripura district’s Kanchanpur area, taking the death toll to a total of four since October 31.

Two-year-old son of Moniram Molsoi and Brishtirung Reang and 65-year-old Ghoma Reang died on Sunday. According to the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), the two starved to death.

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Earlier, two deaths, Makota Reang (65) and John Chongprengh, a two-year-old, were reported from the Bru refugee camps in Tripura.

The refugees from Mizoram have been organizing ‘roadblock’ since October 31 against the Government’s move to discontinue ration and cash dole to the seven relief camps in Tripura.

The MBDPF alleged that the people in the camps had died of starvation after the Centre had stopped providing free ration and cash dole to the inmates of the relief camps since the past month after the commencement of the 9th repatriation process on October 3.

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As per reports, the central government has decided that they will discontinue supplying food to the refugee camps at Kanchanpur. More than 35,000 Bru refugees have been sheltering in the Kanchanpur refugee camps since the last two decades, following ethnic clashes in Mizoram.

However, Kanchanpur's sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Abhedananda Baidya said that the cause of their deaths is yet to be established and starvation might not be the reason.

For the past five days, Bru refugees have been staging roadblock in the Anandabazar-Dasda road. The situation is also alarming in the Kanchanpur subdivision. As per reports, the Government has imposed curfews in a few places at Kanchanpur.

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