Aizawl: The biometric enrolment of 29,575 refugees from Myanmar taking shelter in Mizoram is nearing completion, with eight of the state’s total 11 districts completing the exercise, officials said.The exercise began in late July last year.State home department officials said biometric data of 29,251 of the 29,575 Myanmar refugees, or 98.90%, had been collected so far. However, officials of Lawngtlai, Hnahthial and Serchhip districts are yet to complete the process.Lawngtlai, which hosts 6,328 Myanmar refugees — the second-largest number among the districts — has enrolled 6,054 people, or 95.67%. Officials said the exercise was challenging because of the district’s vast area and a large number of villages being located in remote areas along the Myanmar and Bangladesh border.The district officials have, however, completed the biometric enrolment of all 1,679 refugees from Bangladesh. Lawngtlai hosts the largest number of Bangladeshi refugees in the state.The remaining two districts, Serchhip and Hnahthial, are yet to complete the exercise despite hosting only a few refugees from Myanmar.Officials attributed the slow progress in the three districts to personnel being engaged in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
