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Mizoram completes 93.40% biometric enrolment of Myanmar refugees
As many as 26,381 Myanmarese nationals seeking refuge in Mizoram had been biometrically identified as of February 5.
Mizoram has completed 93.40% of the biometric identification of Myanmarese nationals taking refuge in the state, state home minister K Sapdanga told the ongoing state assembly budget session on Monday.
Replying to a query raised by BJP state president and MLA Dr K Beichhua, Sapdanga said that 26,381 Myanmarese nationals seeking refuge in Mizoram had been biometrically identified as of February 5, 2026.
“As per the latest information we can get from my department, around 1,974 Myanmarese refugees are still to be tagged,” Sapdanga said.
He informed the House that the state home department has faced multiple challenges in housing and administering thousands of refugees currently settled in Mizoram.
“The state government, with the help of local NGOs, is trying to contain the movements of the refugees. We have received reports that some of them are involved in trade, which is not permissible by Indian law. The state police have been trying to prevent the refugees from joining local trade. However, with no other source to sustain themselves, the state has to show our humanitarian side. But the government has strictly dealt with defaulters of law and order,” Sapdanga said.
The home minister also told the House that 1,630 Bangladeshi refugees are currently settling in different parts of Mizoram.
The enrolment drive, which began on July 31, 2025, marks the state’s first official initiative to tag refugees from Myanmar through biometric identification.
Mizoram is currently hosting over 32,000 Myanmarese refugees, many of them belonging to the Chin ethnic group, which shares close cultural and historical ties with the Mizo people. The number remains fluid as individuals continue to cross the porous border amid ongoing unrest in Myanmar.
The influx of refugees began after the 2021 military coup in Myanmar and has intensified due to continuing ethnic violence and armed conflict in the border regions.
