Kan Min
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
August 05, 2003

Villagers from Sakhangyi village, Chanthargyi village and Nanpaho village of Kalemyo Township have been given fire safety training by officials under the command of Lt.Col. Hla Moe of Central Training 10.

The one-month training program has been made compulsory for all farmers since July 21st. This is despite the current monsoon season being one of the most important and vital farming times of the year.

"I had just completed sowing my field when the village chairman U khin Muang Yin told me I must attend the training or pay a penalty. So I paid him 400 kyats", said a villager from Sakhangyi who had recently come to the border region.

The first batch to go through the fire safety course consisted of 50 trainees. It has been announced that the trainings shall be held according to convenience. Quite whose convenience, the farmers or the officials, is unclear.

Villagers have been forced to donate 400 kyats per household for the training, although Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) members are exempted. This kind of revenue raising is a common occurance, as the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) Chairman Lt.Col. Hla Moe and village Chairman U Khin Muang Yin regularly impose a range of taxes for the villagers to pay.

The Sakhangyi community is suspicious of the motives behind U Khin Muang Yin and Lt. Col. Hla Moe ordering the the fire safety training, as there are no similar programs being performed in any other villages in Kalemyo township during the all-important monsoon season. Many of the farmers believe that the training is nothing more than a method for the TPDC and VPDC chairmen to illegally earn extra money for themselves.

In April this year U Khin Muang Yin and an official from the Agriculture Department, U Nyo Win, received a three million Kyat contract from the central government to build a maternity hospital in Sakhangyi village. However, the two men forced villagers to bring stones for the building and made them construct drainage on the site without any payment.

The hospital was contructed within three months but the carpenters and workers have been left unpaid. Head carpentar, U Kyin, and the brick supplier, U Kyaw Hla, lodged complaints against the authorities about their unwillingness to make payments, but as yet they have heard nothing in response.