Over 300 housemaids staged a protest on Wednesday in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, by marching to a government administrative office to complain about shortage of electricity in their neighborhood, said a town elder and eyewitness.

" Around 300 women from Kondan Ward in Sittwe marched peacefully on Wednesday to the ward administrative office along the Main Street to protest against the shortage of power supply in their area," the elder said.  

According to sources, the protest was staged after Kondan Ward did not receive electricity supply for a month. The ward is located in downtown Sittwe and is home to average Sittwe locals.

The source added, "The women demanded the ward authorities solve the problem of power shortage in the ward immediately. They also threatened the authorities that they would continue their protest against the government if their demand was not met."

The authorities had been supplying electricity to the ward using a generator powered by rice husks, which was operated as a joint venture with a private company.

A woman from Kondan said, "We have not received power in our ward from the paddy shell-fueled generator for a month. So we were unable to tolerate such neglect of our ward by authorities. We came out onto the streets demanding electricity. We need power supplied by the government, not a private company."

Despite the public protest against the government, none of the women who participated were arrested.

The woman added that not only was no one arrested, the authorities resumed supplying power to the ward from yesterday night, a day after the protest.

In Sittwe, the authorities supply only two or three hours of electricity each night, and has since the junta came to power, but the government still continues to claim that the conditions in Arakan State have been improving under its rule.