Mizoram government to raise funds for Manipur refugees

Mizoram government on Monday said that it is likely to raise funds from the government officials, staff and the public for relief and rehabilitation of people of Manipur who have migrated to the state following outbreak of violence.

“Donation would likely be sought from the government officials, employees and the people in general,” a Home Department official said.

He said that a delegation from the state led by Tourism Minister Robert Romawia last month met officials of the Union Home Ministry including Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and requested them to provide funds for the relief and shelter to the displaced people from Manipur.

He said that the response of the Home Ministry officials was positive, but the state has yet to receive any financial support.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has also written two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 16 and May 23 and sought financial support of Rs 10 crore to provide relief to the displaced people from Manipur.

The tribals belonging to the Kuki-Zo-Zomi community started trickling in Mizoram soon after the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3.

Mizoram currently houses 12,000 displaced people from Manipur.

The displaced people took shelter in relief camps, rented and relatives houses, churches, community centers and other places in all the 11 districts of Mizoram.

Mizoram has been accommodating around 35,000 refugees from Myanmar due to the military coup in February 2021; over 1,000 refugees from Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, where Army crackdown forced the tribals to leave their villages and to take shelter in Mizoram.

The mountainous Mizoram shares an unfenced 510 km border with Myanmar and 318 km international boundary with Bangladesh.

The Mizoram government has been asking the Centre to recognise the Myanmarese, sheltered in Mizoram, as refugees and grant funds to provide food and relief to all the people from Manipur, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

But the Central government is yet to provide any financial assistance for the displaced people from Manipur and the refugees from the neighbouring countries.