Kyaukpru, Arakan State: About 100 Rohingya Muslims are being forced to work on the newly constructed Kyaukpru– Maayee Road this week.

The Rohingya Muslim community lives in Kyakpru and Rambree Township in Arakan State.

The authorities from Kyaukpru and Rambree ordered local authorities to assemble Rohingya Muslims in their area for construction work on the Kyaukpru – Maayee Road.

"My father had gone to the newly constructed road for a week as a forced labour (which the junta calls people's workforce) on the orders of the township authority. Flouting the order means we have to leave the town or the authorities will harass us," said a student in Kyaukpru.

"We are facing starvation after my father went to the road construction site where the authorities provide the lowest quality of rice as wages and we have no other source of income for survival, he added.

The new road has nine bridges and it will join the high way to Kyukpru-Ann Road.

The Rohingyas who go to the construction site will work and stay at the site for a week and be replaced by another group of 100 Rohingyas, said a source.

There is no other community except the Rohingya working on this site, the source added.

"We don't know how long it will take to finish the road and the Rohingya community will work to complete the project while their families starve," the sources added.