The original owner of the 5-acre land said she had asked U Khet Htein Nan, the Military Council appointed Chief Minister of Kachin State, to give back her land seized during the construction of Bahmo Airport in a written letter.
She became homeless after the land grabbing and wandered from place to place, hence she wanted her land back, the woman explained.
“If there is still a chance, we want to go back to the place where we have lived since we were born. But we will accept reasonable compensation if the land is compulsorily needed for the airport project. And we also considered accepting if they offer another place where we can live”, she added.
After submitting the letter, she went to the land on September 10 because officials from the land registry and relevant departments informed her to meet them there but not a single measurement of the land was done that day, the woman who applied for the land said.
“We went there because we were summoned. They said they were busy because it coincided with the arrival of a flight. So, we went back and waited. But we haven't heard anything about the matter since then”, she said.
She already wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Kachin State U Khet Htein Nan on June 25 to plead to get back the 5-acre land and she was told that the matter would be resolved, the woman continued.
“We have been trying to get it back since the day we were forced to move out from the land. We faced a lot of difficulties because there was no place to live. When I saw the Military Regime’s announcement on TV which claimed they would solve such problems if there were firm proofs of the ownership of the land. We hoped to get our land back if we could present the exact location of the land hence we decided to submit a letter”, she explained.
9 families were forced to move from their lands by the local officials under the name of an airport project. These families never received any compensation or land replacement to settle again.
Army’s land confiscation issues in Kachin State will be resolved under the current Military Regime, so those who had faced such problems should submit letters with firm proofs and valid documents, U Khet Htein Nan told the Myitkyina News Journal.
U Khet Htein Nan also said the Kachin State Government would conduct field inspections for the complaint letters submitted by farmers during the change of regime and would try its best to negotiate with the military based on the suggestions of the relevant departments.
