An interview with a local woman from Mudon who was instructed to evacuate her home within two months due to the area being part of the planned international airport project in the town
Residents in Mudon, Mon State say that the military junta has instructed them to evacuate their homes within two months as the areas overlap with the land designated for an international airport project to be constructed in the town.
The residents were summoned to a meeting by the junta-appointed township administration on 21 May. At the meeting, they were told to begin evacuating their homes starting from 23 May, according to the locals.
Apart from facing difficulties in relocating during the rainy season, the residents say the replacement plots of land provided as compensation are unsuitable for building new homes. Regarding this situation, the Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) conducted an interview with a local woman from Mudon who has been ordered to evacuate her home.
Q: How were you instructed to vacate the areas overlapping with the airport project in Mudon Township?
A: The Mudon township administration called us for a meeting on 21 May. They told us that they had already arranged replacement plots of land for relocation. After 23 May, homes overlapping with the airport project area must be completely demolished and vacated within the next two months. So when we asked how we could do that during the rainy season, there were some arguments raised individually.
Q: What difficulties are those being evacuated facing?
A: We Mon people don’t typically construct houses in the month of Kason (May). And it will already be the rainy season in the month of Nayon (June). Where can we even find available carpenters? They said they are just following orders from above. It’s true they’ve provided compensation for the property. But it’s not feasible for us to relocate immediately. We need time to construct new houses, toilets, and dig wells. Even if we request to delay the evacuation until after the Thadingyut (end of the Buddhist lent) period, it’s not allowed. They say if we don’t demolish the homes ourselves, when they come to demolish, everything will be destroyed.
Q: Specifically, from what date were you told to evacuate by?
A: At the meeting, they said we must begin evacuating our homes starting from 23 May. If the replacement plots are registered in our names, we must relocate. The homes must be demolished and vacated within two months before the Buddhist lent. And even after relocating, we were told not to grow any vegetables in those vacated areas.
Q: How was compensation given for the homes that overlap with the airport project area? Have you received the compensation?
A: The compensation has all been paid. It was formalized with contracts. For areas that were part of the project area, for example, if your land plot was included, they compensated with one replacement plot of land. Whether your original plot was big or small, you only get one replacement plot. And if you had a house and compound built there, they compensated the value of the house along with providing that one replacement plot. Earlier in the meetings, they said in addition to the replacement land plots, they would also provide compensation for filling the plot, as well as electricity. They had said the replacement plots would be 40×60 feet, but later it became 30×60 feet. The plots they actually gave are not even enough to build a livable house on. Even those who had well-constructed houses have to demolish them now.
Q: Where are these replacement land plots located?
A: Our concern is that the replacement plots don’t have Form-7 either. They are just grazing lands that have been passed down from one generation to another. So when I went to ask the administration if we could get Form-7 land titles for the replacement plots, they said no. They are just giving us small partitioned pieces of land. The location of these replacement plots is on the outskirts of Nyaung Kone and Kyaik Ywea villages. On their social media, they have mentioned it as being in Paing Ka Mar (East) village in Mudon Township. But these plots have no proper legal documentation, so we are worried they could take them back from us at any time.
Q: Approximately how many homes need to be evacuated?
A: In just the Nyaung Kone and Kyaik Ywea area, there are around 20 houses that need to be evacuated. But there are many others who just had their individual land plots overlap with the project area. For our household, half of our compound and one hut overlapped with the project. For that, we received 3 million kyats in compensation.
Q: What is the general sentiment among the villagers currently?
A: Most villagers are just dissatisfied. Every day there are big trucks and excavators digging up the lands. After so much land being bought up, everyone is worried about what will happen next. But there’s nothing we can do about it. We live in constant worry day and night. We are not fluent in the Burmese language or very literate either. We don’t fully understand the situation. Some go and pick quarrels with the authorities because they didn’t do as they had promised. Our villagers can’t live like town folks on these small replacement plots. We are used to the village way of life, having space for a firewood pile, a well, and vegetable gardens. So we have to speak up. Ever since they arrived, we’ve been living in constant fear and living in tears every day.
Sent by IMNA.