The Mizoram government has received financial assistance amounting to Rs 8 crore from the Centre to provide relief to over 43,000 people from Myanmar, Manipur and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in the state, the Assembly was informed on Tuesday.
Home Minister K Sapdanga said that Rs 3 crore was received from the Centre during the previous Mizo National Front (MNF) rule, while the state got Rs 5 crore during the current Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) administration.
He was replying to a question from opposition MNF member Ramthanmawia.
Sapdanga said that Rs 3 crore received during the previous government was used for providing amenities to refugee camps and other assistance to the people who came from Myanmar.
The remaining Rs 5 crore has not been used and it will be utilised for relief to the refugees, he said.
According to the state home department, a total of 43,737 refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh and internally displaced people (IDPs)from Manipur have taken shelter in different parts of the state as of August 13.
Refugees from Myanmar accounted for the highest number at 33,724, followed by IDPs from Manipur (7,999) and Bangladeshi refugees (2,014), it said.
East Mizoram's Champhai district hosted the highest number of refugees, mostly Myanmarese, at nearly 14,000, the department said.
The Myanmar people mostly from the Chin state, who share ethnic ties with the Mizo, have been taking shelter in Mizoram since the military takeover in February 2021.
The Bawm people, one of the Mizo tribes, from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) migrated to the state in November 2022 due to the alleged military offensive by the Bangladesh army during its crackdown on an ethnic insurgent group in CHT.
The Kuki-Zo people from Manipur, who also share ethnic ties with the Mizos, have been taking shelter in Mizoram since May 2023 due to ethnic violence between Meiteis and the Kukis in the neighbouring state.