AGARTALA: About 400 people from the minority Chakma community in Arunachal Pradesh have set up camp inside a reserve forest at Shantipur village in North Tripura's Kanchanpur area over the past week. Kanchanpur is also the site where minority Brus from Mizoram have been living in refugee camps for more than two decades now."They have started seeking food and aid from the locals and sought aid from the district administration, saying that they have been facing persecution from local tribes in northern Arunachal Pradesh, forcing them to flee the state. However, they did not tell us how they managed to enter the forest in such large numbers," said Ramani Debnath, a local.A Baidya, sub-divisional magistrate of Kanchanpur, said the Chakmas have "chopped off teak trees worth Rs 2 crore" to put up their tents. "Villagers saw these settlements coming up and reported the matter to the forest department and civil administration. By then, 400 people had occupied the land," Baidya added.Official sources said the district administration has asked the Chakma refugees to move out thrice."If they do not take down their tents and vacate the land, the administration will dismantle them in a day or two, following legal provisions and universal framework. We will not allow this to continue. An investigation has been launched against those who entered the state illegally," Baidya said.In Arunachal Pradesh, the status of the Buddhist Chakmas and Hindu Hajongs - both communities trace their origins to Bangladesh - has always been a contentious issue. Indigenous communities of Arunachal reject the claims to citizenship by these communities and have always challenged any government moves that grants or seeks to grant legitimacy to the members of these communities in the hill state.

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