News from Indo-burma border

[chan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

TO: BBC, DVB
 
         SLORCs border development has reached to the Chin State. There are 
eight townshi in Chin State. They are Tunzam, Teddim, Falam, Hakha, 
Thangtlang, Matupi, Mindat 
and Palatwa. SLORC will construct the roads in Chin State. 
There are 
1. Hakha to Gangaw road 70 miles
2. Hakha to Kalaymyo via Falam road 115 miles
3. Hakha to Matupi road 173 miles and
4. Matupi to Palatwa via Mindat road 137 miles.
 
        And then in December 1997, SLORC will hold the students sport 
festival in Hakha, the capital of Chin State. Therefore the authorities of 
Chin State Law and Order Restoratiioan Council has been 
collecting the funds from the students by force for the sport festival 
Kyats 20 per month each since 1996 January. Then TLORC 
ordered to each villager forcibly to come to Hakha and to clean the 
bushes and level the ground for the road construction. But some villages 
can not go to do the work because the villages are very far away from 
Hakha. Those villages are situated near the Indo-Burma border. 

We heard 
that the chairmen of Teddim and Tunzan township ordered the 
villagers who cannot come to contribute the work , the 
villager 
must pay 1200 Kyats each to TLORC through the Village LORC. Recent time 
is to prepare for the hill-side cultivation. If the villager cannot  do 
the hill-side cultivation, they will lose their work for the whole year. 
The villagers do not want to go, they have to pay the taxes to TLORC. 
Therefore some villagers had to sell the paddies and their belongings to 
pay the taxes to TLORC.
 
* TLORC= Township Law and Order Restoration Council
 
News And Information Unit
ABSDF (WB)
Date 12.3.1997