The ‘Farmlands and Other Land Acquisition Inquiry Commission’ said that they had no mandate to make inquiries on land seized before 1988 across the country during the reign of the Revolution Council and the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).
“Our commission has mandate for the lands seized after 1988 and not land seized before. They will not be included in our reports. First we met with the farmers and then, departmental officials to verify land records. It was kind of a commission hearing”, said MP Aung Zin, Chairman of the Mandalay region Commission.
There are many reported cases of land acquisitions by the Revolution Council and the BSPP before 1988. In Patheingyi Township, Mandalay region, land were seized by the government but some of it are not yet utilized and therefore, former owners have appealed the government to return these land.
Farmer Thein Win said that the BSPP seized a total of 159 acres (field number 501 Pathengyi Township) from them in 1977 including 10 acres of his farmlands.
“My father had submitted appeal letters to the government. I appealed again for land in eight places last time. We did not get any compensation for our seized land. I lost 10 acres.” he said.
Another farmer Myat Htein (72) who witnessed land acquisition by the BSPP government said, “I lost three acres and did not get any compensation for them. They bulldozed our land and built roads on them before we could even harvest our crops.”
