The Land Investigation Commission that has been formed by the Union Parliament is now conducting field investigations for the second time for 14 more cases of confiscation of agrarian lands in Arakan State.
“We investigated seven cases of farm confiscations in Kyaukpru Township on Friday. Among those cases include the farms confiscated by the military intelligence, the LIB-542 and the Danyawady Naval Station and the farms confiscated by entrepreneurs on Madae Island in the township. We will continue to investigate four cases in Thandwe and three cases in Gwa after completing the cases in Kyaukpru. There are total 14 cases we have to investigate this time”, said U Phe Than, a legislator of People’s Parliament from Mraybon as well as a member of the commission.
He said his investigation group is team no. (8) of the commission, in which Colonel Saw Shwe is the leader while he, U Ohn Tin, the legislator of the National Parliament, and U Ba Shin, the legislator of the People’s Parliament from Kyaukpru, are the members.
“We travelled to Madae Island for our investigation yesterday. There are farmers on the island who have lost their traditionally cultivated farms as the entrepreneurs have forcibly confiscated their farms after registering them under their names in the land department. There are also farmers whose farms were confiscated for the Shwe Gas Project, but have not received any compensation”, he said.
He said his team has also investigated the farms confiscated by the army after compensating 12 kyat per acre to the farmers by the order of the home ministry as well as the lands in township, which have been confiscated by the military intelligence, in Kyaukpru Township.
The farmers in the township are also said to be suffering from great difficulties as the army has stopped the renting of its confiscated farms to them for cultivations this year even though it rented the farms to them in the past years.
U Phe Than said this is the second investigation the land commission has ever conducted in Arakan State as it has already done the first investigation in the townships of Ponnakyaun, Kyauktaw, Mraybon and Minbya in the region last September.
According to him, the commission has to present its findings of it’s investigation on the confiscated lands to the Union Parliament and the parliament will review and submit the findings to the government, and the government will give final resolutions over those lands.
