22 December 2009: The Immigration Department in Tiau village, Chin state western Burma on the Indo-Myanmar border trade road No. 2 will not be responsible for the loss of national identity cards belonging to travelers kept in its office.

The department keeps all identity cards of travelers and traders who cross the border. But it will not be responsible if the identity cards are lost, said a traveler from Mungywa Township, Sagaing division.

“I arrived on the border immigration check gate in 2008 with two friends in search of jobs in Mizoram state. We had given our national identity cards to the immigration authorities. However, when we went back and asked for our identity cards this month, we were told that the IDs were lost,” a traveler said.

Although the immigration check gate had given permit letters, the other gates did not accept it.

“The permit letter was useless when we reached the 8 miles gate, which is at the entrance to Kalemyo. The immigration officer ignored the letter and asked for Kyat 2000 as a penalty for losing the card. We have to make new cards and spend more money in the process,” he added.

It is learnt that one has to spend about Kyat one lakh for getting new identity cards in Mungywa town, Sagaing division western Burma.

There are 13 military check gates on the Indo-Myanmar border trade road No. 2 including the immigration check gate, taxation gate and police check gate. The authorities check ID cards and demand huge sums of money from traders and travelers.