Aizawl, Aug 27 (PTI): More than 29,500 Myanmarese refugees have taken shelter in Mizoram, and close to 99 per cent of them have been biometrically enrolled, the northeastern state’s home minister informed the legislative assembly on Thursday.
Apart from this, more than 2,000 people from Bangladesh have taken shelter in Mizoram, according to officials. The Myanmarese refugees, mostly from the Chin state, fled to Mizoram following a military coup in the neighbouring country in February 2021.
On the other hand, members of the Bawm tribe from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts sought refuge in Mizoram after a military offensive against an ethnic insurgent group in 2022 in that country.
The Chins of Myanmar and the Bawm tribe of Bangladesh share close ethnic ties with the Mizos.
Following the Centre’s directive, the biometric enrollment of Myanmarese and Bangladeshi refugees began in late July last year using the ‘Foreigners Identification Portal and Biometric Enrollment’.
Mizoram’s Home Minister K Sapdanga said 29,575 Myanmarese refugees have been living in different parts of Mizoram, according to records maintained by his department till August 20.
The state government has completed biometric enrolment of 98.90 per cent of the refugees from Myanmar, he told the Assembly.
He said the Mizoram government has so far spent Rs 40.60 lakh on biometric enrolment of refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, while financial assistance has also been received from the Centre for the care of Myanmarese refugees.
Sapdanga said that the state government was also examining measures to strengthen police infrastructure along the Mizoram-Myanmar border.
The Hnahlan police beat post in east Mizoram’s Champhai district near the Myanmar border is being considered for upgradation into a full-fledged police station, he said, adding that the state government has also proposed recruiting 385 personnel in the state police during the current year.
