Maungdaw, Arakan State: Concerned authorities are collecting arbitrary taxes from taxi drivers who ply the Maungdaw-Bawli Bazaar road, said one of the taxi drivers of Maungdaw Township.

On the Maungdaw-Bawli Bazaar road, the Nasaka (Burma’s Border Security Force) have set up many gates and are collecting extra money from taxi, bus, truck, and jeep drivers.

Drivers must pay 15,000 kyats to the local Nasaka area,15,000 kyats to the Nasaka Headquarters of Kyikan Pyin Village, 7,000 kyats to city cooperatives, 7,000 kyats to traffic police, and 5,000 kyats to the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) Chairman every month.

In total, each driver must pay 49,000 kyats to the authorities each month.

In addition, one taxi driver must also pay 500 kyats at the gate of the Nasaka headquarters, and another 500 kyats at the gate of Potkhali in Zambonia Village Tract daily, said a local elder whose son is a bus driver.

The concerned authorities collect even more money from the drivers of trucks, buses, and jeeps.

One of the taxi drivers said, “How much money do they think we can get after driving the taxi the whole day? We are doing this job because we have no alternative.”

A local elder asked, “Will all of the car drivers become the authorities’ bread earners?”

Another local trader said on condition of anonymity that there is no work for the Rohingya community without directly or indirectly being taken advantage of by the government authorities.