The Burmese military junta's new Kachin State Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win of the Northern Command has ordered residents to pay the monthly electricity bills for roadside lighting in Myitkyina Township, the capital of Kachin State in northern Burma as of three weeks ago, said residents.
A merchant in Tatkone quarter in the township said, civilians have been ordered to pay the electricity charges for the bulbs lit on poles on the left and right roadside starting from Balaminhtin Irrawaddy River Bridge to Northern Command headquarters in the township. The distance between the two places is about nine miles.
The electricity charges for roadside lighting used to be paid by the Township Municipal Office. However, civilians in each quarter or village, where the electric grid line crosses, have been ordered not only to buy electric bulbs but also pay the monthly bills by Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win, according to residents of Myitkyina.
Myitkyina residents said there is one electric pole every 200 feet on the left and right of the road in the township.
Since April this year, Myitkyina is being supplied with 24-hour electricity from the Kachin ceasefire group, Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)-built Mali Hka Hydropower Plant (not Irrawaddy River) by the management of the KIO's Buga Co. Ltd.
The KIO's Buga Co. Ltd. collects electricity charges in Myitkyina. However it has to pay Electric Meter Box tax to the ruling junta in Naypyidaw, the capital of Burma, every month, said Buga Co. Ltd sources.
