Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burmese Army which came to Maungdaw Township on April 2009 from Buthidaung Township to supervise the erection of fences on the Burma Bangladesh border cheated local villagers in paying wages, according to a local elder on condition of anonymity.
On May 18, Engineering Division of the army ordered the villagers of Maung Hnama village tract of Maungdaw Township to collect stones for the embankment for erecting fences on the Burma-Bangladesh border. The army told the local villagers that it would give kyat 8,000 for stones of 36 cubic feet.
Two villagers have to collect stones of 36 cubic feet for three days from the creek. In the hope of getting money, about 20 families including women of Maung Hnama village of Maungdaw Township went to collect stones and they collected 1,440 cubic feet of stones, said one of the villagers.
The villagers were to get kyat 320,000 from the army for collecting stones, but the army gave only kyat 50,000 to the villagers. So, the villagers were cheated off kyat 1, 70,000 by the army.
Similarly, the engineering division ordered villagers of Mangala Gyi village tract, Balu Khali and Peran Pru villages to collect stones. They (army) also took away the stones from the villagers after paying some money. They did not pay the exact amount that they promised, said a schoolteacher.
Besides, the army had collected money from villagers in southern Maungdaw town, asking the villagers to provide stones for the embankment on which the fence will be erected along the Burma-Bangladesh border. They collected 50 to 10 Tins (one Tin = 1.7 cubic feet) of stones from every villager where one tin cost kyat 300. By taking money from the villagers, the army themselves distributed stones to the work site which they (army) robbed earlier from the villagers, according to a local trader.
The concerned authority, especially the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) collected kyat 15,000 per passport of those who want to go to Bangladesh. Everyone has to make passport to go to Bangladesh for treatment, visiting and marketing, said a patient who paid money for stones.
For the fence erection on border areas, the Rohingya villagers are being cheated by the army. They are involved in forced labour, have to pay donation, face arbitrary harassment by authorities and are being looted of their vegetables and fish from the shrimp projects, said a former village chairman requesting anonymity.
