Residents of Tang Hpre village located near the Irrawaddy Myitsone dam construction site in Northern Burma, Kachin State are reeling under the dual burden of drugs and pressure from the ruling Burmese junta to relocate the whole village by March, which is the deadline.

“It is akin to hell now. More and more people are addicted to drugs in the village, which is being destroyed due to digging for gold,” said Bawk Naw, a villager from Tang Hpre.

He told Thailand-based Kachin News Group whole paddy fields are being destroyed because of gold mining and no one is even attempting to plant paddy, due to the uncertain conditions. On top of which there is mounting pressure to relocate.

Baptist church in Tang Hpre village. Photo: Kachin News Group

With the gold mining business, drug addiction has increased among the youth but the regime had not acted on it, said the villager.

The Burmese military government Ma-Ya-Ka, police and the Asia World Company had come to the village on January 23 and 24 to talk about compensation and told villagers to relocate to other places by March.

“They are giving compensation of 135 Kyats for one orange tree in Mazup village located between Mali and N’mai rivers,” said Bawk Naw.

Tang Hpre villagers are to be compensated but the authorities have told them that the amount of financial aid will depend on plant count and food stored in every house. There will be no payment for house and land.

“We villagers have decided not to shift from our village whatever comes our way,” said Bawk Naw.

Most young men from the village are still running away from the village because they are being arrested for investigations relating to the April 17, 2010 bomb blasts near the dam construction site.

There are more security check points now and more soldiers around the dam construction site after the explosions.

The National League for Party (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy icon of Burma, has criticized the construction of the 152 meter high Myitsone Dam, which is being built without taking into account the impact on thousands of people and the ecology.

According to Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network (BRN) the Myitsone dam located over 20 miles from Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State, will displace about 15,000 people living around the site and threatens thousands of people downstream because of flooding and water shortage.

The construction began last year led by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) and power generated will be sold to China, said Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network (BRN).

The impact of limited water will affect farmers and fisher folk, who depend on the river for their livelihood, said BRN in a statement on January 17.

Myitsone dam is a part of seven dams on headwaters of Irrawaddy River, also Mali Hka in Kachin and is estimated to produce a major part of 17,160 MW of electricity, which is to be exported to China, according to BRN.

Till now, at least six villages have been relocated to new sites, where there is no hope of eking out a livelihood by the villagers with no farmland and agricultural plots.