Aizawl: The Mizoram government has sought relief assistance to the tune of Rs 5 crore from the Centre following the large-scale influx of people from violence-hit Manipur, a senior state home department official said.
State home commissioner and secretary H Lalengmawia said that the state home department has urged the Centre to provide financial assistance as an immediate relief for internally displaced people from neighbouring Manipur, who took shelter in Mizoram due to the ongoing ethnic crisis.
“A letter seeking monetary assistance of Rs 5 crore as immediate relief for the internally displaced people was sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) last week. We are hopeful that the Centre will provide the assistance as the displaced people are none other than Indian citizens, ” the home secretary said.
According to Lalengmawia, people from the neighbouring state continue to flee to Mizoram and the number of internally displaced people taking shelter in the northeastern state has reached 8,532 till Tuesday.
The majority of the displaced people are lodged at temporary shelters in several villages, while others are also given shelter by their relatives, he said.
He said that the government, NGOs, churches and village authorities are providing food and other basic needs to the displaced people.
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So far the government has not encountered any problems in terms of food, temporary shelter and other relief items as proper arrangements were made beforehand in view of possible influx from the neighbouring state, the senior official said.
However, the government might face several problems in the long run as Mizoram has also hosted more than 35,000 people from Myanmar and Bangladesh, he said.
About 34,000 Myanmar nationals and 1,000 Bangladeshi asylum seekers are currently taking refuge in different parts of Mizoram.
Lalengmawia added that they did not receive any word from the Manipur government regarding its residents taking shelter in Mizoram.
According to the home department, 3,022 people from Manipur have fled to the Assam border Kolasib district, while 2,875 and another 2,252 people took shelter in Manipur border Aizawl and Saitual districts respectively.
The remaining 383 people took shelter in Champhai, Khawzawl, Hnahthial, Serchhip, Mamit and Lunglei districts, the department said.