Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burmese military junta authorities are forcing 200 villagers to work in a rubber plantation near Aung Mamgala modern village from October 20, said a villager who worked as a forced labour.

The rubber plantation is around 3.40 acres and is controlled by Tactical Operations Command (TOC) in Buthidaung. The land was confiscated from the Rohingya community in the area.

The villagers had cultivated rubber seedlings which the TOC sold to villagers at 250 Kyats per seedling three years ago.

The authorities ordered the village headmen to send the workforce (which the junta calls to forced labour) to work in the rubber plantation. They are to fix fences, spread fertilizer and clean the grass around the rubber plants, said a village headman on condition of anonymity.

The villagers had to bring their food to work. No daily wage is paid.

"The rubber plantation is situated near the Aung Mamgala Natala (Modern) Village, but the authorities didn't order Natala villagers to work. The order was meant only for Rohingya villagers," said a village former headman.

Rohingya villagers who are working in the rubber plantation face starvation as most of them are daily workers.

"The authorities seized our land and than ordered us to buy the seedlings. Now, they have ordered us to work in the plantation area as forced labour which they call people's workforce for the country," said a school teacher from Maungdaw.

Recently, senior officers of the junta visited the border area and told the township officers to develop the area with help of the public. On the other hand they ordered them to confiscate lands from the Rohingya community.

"Nearly 150 acres of land from the Rohingya community will be confiscated soon for development of Taungbro as a modern town," said a politician from Maungdaw.