KALADAN NEWS
Date:
Army
Headquarters Became a Market
Buthiaung, October 08: The army
Headquarters of
Battalion No.551 of Thin Ga Net
north in
Previously, the villagers had to buy essential goods
from the government agents. SPDC
authorities---
Military Intelligence, Nasaka,
army officials and
Township Peace and Development Council--- authorized
the said agents by taking with huge
money for one-
year period. The agents have to buy
their concerned
goods from the town agents or from
local villagers and
brought to the villages to sell the
villagers. The
villagers also have to sell their
products to the
agents with their low and fixed
price, the source
further added.
There are so many agents, such as: salt agent, bamboo
agent, kerosene agent, betel leaves
agent, Chili
agent, fishing agent, meat agent,
wood agent, edible
oil agent, pulses agent goods to the
villagers at a
high price. For instances: one
kilogram of salt is
being sold Kyat 60 in village, but
it is being sold at
town Kyat 40 only and one 50 kgs bag of rice is being
sold Kyat 12,000 by the village
agent, but it is being
sold in town Kyat 9,000. The agent
has the power to
increase the prices of goods
according to his own
decision. But, no one dares to tell
him anything about
the increasing prices as he has
good relation to the
SPDC authorities. Some agents are
also partnership
with SPDC authorities, said another
villager to our
press.
Villagers were not affording to buy the goods from the
agent as they have no jobs, no
money and they are also
facing movement of
restriction. These push the
villagers into poverty day by day.
They must buy goods
from agents at a high price, and
are not allowed to
buy any things except the agents.
If they bought some
things from other places, they
should be punished or
the army or the Nasaka
seized the goods, he further
added.
For the impact of agent systems, six members from one
family were dead in Badana
village Tracts of Buthidaung north in
taking insecticide in the first
week of September
2003, as they didn’t bear of the starvation. Another
three persons also died in
starvation in the month of
September. Regarding this
matter, UNHCR and SPDC authorities
of Buthidaung
Township made a discussion about the agent systems.
After that discussion, the SPDC authorities have
destroyed some agents, said a
schoolteacher to our
source.
Instead of these agents, the headquarters of
Battalion No. 551 became a market place for the
villagers, which is now selling all
kinds of goods to
the villagers. Some of the
authorized persons of the
headquarters have to buy goods from
and brings them to their
headquarters by boat and then
selling the goods to the villagers
with suitable
prices compared to those previous
local agents.
Thus, the SPDC authorities are earning money by
creating lucrative business, while
the ruling military
junta cannot have enough money to
maintain their
military expenses, said an
ex-lawyer at Buthidaung.
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