Union Home Minister Shri P Chidambaram arrived in Aizawl late this afternoon, for a two day visit to Mizoram accompanied by senior officials of Home Ministry and Special DG, BSF. The Home Minister had a meeting with the Chief Minister Shri Lal Thanhawla at the Raj Bhawan where a number of Ministers and senior state government officials and paramilitary forces were also present.  

Addressing a short press conference after the meeting, the Home Minister stated that the 4^th phase of repatriation of Bru refugees from the Refugees Camps in Tripura would commence from the 26^th April till the 15^th May.  He said that the State Government has identified 669 families to be repatriated. The Home Minister also stated that 83 Mizo families from Sakhan Hills in Tripura who were affected would also be provided compensation as agreed. The Home Minister said that both the Chief Ministers of Mizoram and Tripura are committed to the repatriation process. He said that the Bru families will have to leave the refugee camps in Tripura and come back to their original villages in Mizoram as a part of the repatriation process and added that firm action will be taken if spokes are put in the wheel.

Modernization of police forces, Indo Bangla Border Fencing, border roads, land acquisition for establishing Border Out Posts (BOPs) for the BSF were some of the other issues which were discussed on wide grounds in the meeting. The Home Minister expressed that decisions had been taken on these issues and both the State andUniongovernments are responsible for the implementation of these decisions.   

The Union Home Minister is scheduled to meet Bru families who have been resettled in Damdiai and Tuipuibari villages of Mamit District tomorrow. He will also have a meeting with BSF officials at Tuipuibari after which he will leave forDelhi.