9 per cent of the targeted beneficiaries already covered, State Home department officials said on Sunday. Of the 29,575 Myanmar refugees identified for enrolment, biometric data of 29,251 people had been collected so far.

Eight of the State’s 11 districts have completed the exercise, which began in the latter part of July last year. The process, however, remained incomplete in Lawngtlai, Hnahthial and Serchhip districts.

83 per cent. Officials said the district’s difficult terrain, its large geographical area and the concentration of settlements in remote areas along the Myanmar and Bangladesh borders have made the exercise particularly challenging.

Despite these logistical difficulties, Lawngtlai has already completed biometric enrolment of 1,679 refugees from Bangladesh, who have been taking shelter in the district. Officials said that the remaining backlog is relatively small in Serchhip and Hnahthial, where a small portion of Myanmar refugees have been sheltered.

The two districts were yet to complete the enrolment process. Officials said the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has also affected the pace of the biometric exercise.

With administrative machinery engaged in the intensive revision process, the enrolment of refugees has progressed more slowly in some districts. The biometric exercise was launched to create a verified database of refugees from Myanmar staying in Mizoram amid the continuing political and security crisis in the neighbouring country.

Mizoram has hosted tens of thousands of people who crossed the border following the military coup in Myanmar and subsequent armed conflict.