Meitei refugees arrive to board a paramilitary truck at a transit point after being evacuated from the violence that hit Churachandpur, near Imphal in Manipur on May 9, 2023. File
| Photo Credit: AFP
GUWAHATI
The Mizoram government has sought ₹10 crore from the Centre to provide relief to 11,785 people displaced by ethnic violence in adjoining Manipur.
Belonging to the Zo ethnic community, these people began trickling in after violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, adding to some 40,000 ethnically-related people displaced from Myanmar and Bangladesh since February 2021.
A government spokesperson said Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga wrote two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 16 and May 23 seeking financial support of about ₹10 crore to feed and take care of the other needs of the refugees from Manipur. The Centre has not yet responded.
In a tweet, the Chief Minister said 11,785 tribal people from Manipur took shelter across the 11 districts of Mizoram, living temporarily in the houses of relatives, churches, and community halls. Kolasib district had the highest number of such refugees (4,296) followed by 3,837 in Aizawl and 2,855 in Saitual district.
A total of 2,883 people are residing in 35 relief camps established by the Mizoram government.
Officials said an exercise has been undertaken to enrol more than 1,500 children displaced from Manipur in Mizoram’s government-run schools. “They may return sooner or later, but their education must not suffer,” an official said.
“Humanitarian assistance as a responsible government, we don’t have much but we are ready to share! 2388.50 quintals of rice issued to Zo ethnic tribes in troubled Manipur areas and internally displaced persons residing in Mizoram by Govt. of Mizoram, including other relief supplies,” he wrote in a tweet.
Mr Zoramthanga said Mizoram was an “eternal home” for all Zo ethnic tribes and equally a safe haven for non-ethnic and law-abiding citizens, including the Meitei.
He had on June 18 assured his Manipur counterpart, Nongthombam Biren Singh, that he would provide security to the Meitei people living in Mizoram.
