Mizoram awaits relief package from Centre for 12,000 displaced from Manipur

Mizoram is waiting for a relief package sought from the Centre for over 12,000 internally displaced people from ethnic violence-hit Manipur, a senior home department official said on Monday.

The Mizo National Front (MNF) government, headed by Chief Minister Zoramthanga, had in May sought Rs 10 crore as a relief package for those displaced people.

Mizoram Home Commissioner and Secretary H Lalengmawia said that Tourism Minister Robert Romawia and some officials, including him, met the Union home secretary and the additional secretary in Delhi recently and urged him to release the package at the earliest.

"Even though the response of the home secretary and the additional secretary was positive during the meeting, we have not received any word from the Centre regarding the relief package till today," he told PTI.

The home department handles the displaced people from Manipur and those who had taken refuge in the state from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Lalengmawia said that the home department has sought assistance to the tune of Rs 5 crore from the finance department to provide relief to the people from Manipur.

"For this purpose, we will also collect donations from legislators, employees of the state government, central government, corporates and commercial banks and others," he said.

According to the state home department, at least 22 people have entered Mizoram in the past two days, raising the total number of displaced people from Manipur in the state to 12,162 as of Monday.

These people belonged to the Kuki-Hmar-Mizo-Zomi group, who share close ethnic ties with the Mizo people of Mizoram. The government and village authorities have set up 35 relief camps in Aizawl, Kolasib and Saitual districts for them.

The senior official said that some relief camps have begun to face a crisis of food and other materials due to a paucity of funds.

Kolasib district, which borders Assam, currently hosts the highest number of displaced people at 4,345, followed by Aizawl district at 4,047 and Saitual district at 2,940, according to the home department data.

Mizoram also currently hosts more than 35,000 refugees from coup-hit Myanmar and Bangladesh.

More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far.

Clashes first broke out on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.