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Mizzima: Junta's Developmental Prog



Junta?s Developmental Programs hurt the people in Kachin State

By: Shagawng Brang from Myitkyina (Kachin State)
October 17, 2000: Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com)

Developmental programs of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
supposed to be aiming for the development of people in Kachin State of
Burma are hurting the local populace as the government is implementing
them mainly on the forced free labour of the people.

Since after establishing ?truce? between the present military junta
(SPDC) and Kachin  Independence Organization (KIO) in February 1993,
there have been a few developmental  programs in the State. Repairing
motor roads in major townships began after the truce but forced labor
became visible in Kachin State particularly after 1997 when the ?big?
development projects such as construction of high ways and bridges
started. The people are called for contributing labour and ?fine? has to
be given to the concerned authorities if they are absent for the ?duty?.
The worst is people have to come to the construction sites with their
own means and expenses. No medical care is provided for the laborers.

When Sumpra Bum highway and Lido highway were constructed in 1998,
people from Myitkyina town had to do digging, breaking the stones and
cobbling etc. for two miles long on the Sumpra Bum road and one mile
long on Lido. They had to work under intense heat, sometimes up to ten
o?clock at night with candle and battery light. Though how much the
public worked, the roads are yet to complete.

In Wai Maw town, forced labor is still going on. Bala Min Thin Bridge
connecting Wai Maw and Myitkyina crossing the Irrawaddy River was
constructed and the bridge opening ceremony was held in October last
year. The students and people from Wai Maw and Myitkyina towns were
asked as compulsory to participate in the opening ceremony. On that day,
there was car accidence on the way to bridge opening ceremony. Three
persons died and many got injured in the accident.

Putao airport at the end of Northern Burma has been extended since 1994.
One person from each family in the whole town has to work for the
airport extension program with their own ration in rotation system.
Families with the children are left at home. As the majority in the town
are farmers, they face hardship not being able to concentrate on their
farming work. But no news on the people?s suffering come out in the
state-controlled media.

In Hpakant, which is famous for its precious jade mines, each family had
to contribute one person for free labor for constructing motor roads in
the town even on Sunday in 1997 summer.

Whenever the government announces a development program to be
implemented in the state, the people are worried knowing that they will
be called for ?contributing? labour soon. For many people, contributing
labour for the government?s development projects has become a routine
and normal duty. They even think that this kind of forced labour exists
in other countries as well.