India Builds 250 Houses In Myanmar For Rohingya Refugees To Aid Repatriation

In a bid to help repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, India has handed over 250 completed pre-fabricated homes to the Myanmar government for use by the refugees upon their return, reports The Hindu.

India and Myanmar had signed an agreement in 2017, under which Delhi is obliged to spend $25 million over five years.

The 250 houses are built across three clusters in the Shwe Zar, Kyein Chaung Taung and Nan Thar Taung areas which witnessed some of the worst cases of violence, including mass murder, gang-rape of women and children and burning of thousands of homes.

The construction has cost around Rs 10 crore. However, there are no signs of the Rohingyas returning as of now.

So far, the Indian government has sent more than 20,000 refugees' names to the Myanmar government for verification, a first step in repatriating them. Around 13,000 names have been confirmed by the authorities.

As part of the agreement, the Myanmar government has also handed over a list of 21 other projects that it wants India to fund as part of the agreement. This includes the construction of small villages, culverts and school buildings.

Apart from India, Japan, China and ASEAN countries are also building houses and required infrastructure to aide the return of the Rohingya refugees.