AIZAWL:
The Aizawl District Level Committee on Myanmar Refugees has begun identification of refugees from the neighbouring country residing in the state, on February 4, home minister Lalchamliana said.
The state will also provide identification cards to the refugees, whose number, in the past few months, have risen to 20,000, said the Home Minister.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the committee chaired by Lalchamliana, who also informed that the identification has been carried out in coordination with the village council leaders and the local civil societies.
Officials said that the state houses a maximum number of Myanmar refugees, adding that while 480 refugees are being lodged at temporary relief camps in four places, there are over 5,000 estimated refugees without being identified and their exact addresses remained unknown.
Majority of the refugees, including 24 legislators elected in 2020 Myanmar general elections, are reportedly staying in the state capital Aizawl city and surrounding villages, mostly in the homes of their relatives and friends.
Aizawl district deputy commissioner Lalhriatzuali Ralte said that the committee may also provide food, education and health care to the refugees and is also mulling over construction of more relief camps in the district.
The same initiatives have been taken in Mizoram’s southern Lawngtlai district, which has over 5,300 refugees at present, reports revealed.
The district authorities have been making plans to construct a transit refugee camp at Kawlchaw West, the village where a vast majority of the refugees had crossed over.
The refugee transit camp would be used as a quarantine centre for the refugees when they enter the district and would undergo Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) before being allowed to enter the village.
Identification process also began at the Hnahthial district from February 3 and till Sunday, 58 people of the estimated 1,460 refugees in the district have been identified.
An uniform format was being used for the identification process which would include addresses in Myanmar and Mizoram, names of fathers, heights and colour of eyes.
From about 16,000 last month, the number of Myanmar refugees in Mizoram swelled to approximately 20,000 due to fresh atrocities inflicted by the Myanmar’s Army in Chin State that neighbours Mizoram.
“There has been fresh influx of refugees on a daily basis since last week after the Myanmar Army renewed their campaign in villages not far from the Indian border. However, some of them have returned to their villages after firings stopped,” said Zokhawthar village council president Lalmuanpuia.
Zokhawthar in an Indian village on the banks of Triau river that divides India and Myanmar. The border town alone hosted about 2,000 refugees last week.