Agartala, June 15: Tripura’s increasing number of insurgency-hit non-tribal refugees has demanded adequate security from the government and their inclusion in the “cluster village” scheme. The Left Front government has implemented the scheme for tribal refugees in the interior areas. However, more than 10,000 non-tribal refugees, who have been ejected from the homes in the Jampui Jala and Takarjala areas under Bishalgarh subdivision, have requested the government to include them in the special rehabilitation programme.
The non-tribals in the sub-division bore the brunt of the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV)-led insurgency between 1978-1988 and waves of attack by NLFT and Tiger Force militants from 1997 to 2000.
The refugees, who have temporarily settled in and around Agartala, took out a procession yesterday and submitted a memorandum to the West Tripura district magistrate Ashutosh Jindal, demanding adequate security to the people so that they can return home.
“Our land and property left behind in Sangkumabari, Pravapur, Sombaria bazar, Kendrai Cherra, Purba Takarjala, Jugalkishore Nagar and Jampui Jala villages are being occupied. Unless the government arranges for our safe return, everything will be lost,” the president of the Association of Refugees Displaced from Jampui Jala and Takarjala, Gopal Debnath, said.
He expressed concern that the Autonomous District Council (ADC) had started redistributing land that originally belonged to non-tribals. Sukhendu Saha, general secretary of the association, said the refugees should be covered by the “cluster village” scheme. “The government is implementing the scheme to save the tribals. But what about us? We are now left with no alternative, but to struggle for our existence and fight for our legitimate rights.”