Authority Increases Electricity to Taungup to Avoid Protests Skip to main content

Authority Increases Electricity to Taungup to Avoid Protests


Caption photo: Protest in Taungup Against Referendum
Taungup: The military government has adopted the new tactic this year of providing more electricity to Taungup in an effort to placate residents and avoid further protests like those that have taken place over the last few years.

Taungup is a town located in western Burma's Arakan State where dozens of protests against the military government have broken out over the last few years, in spite of efforts by the authorities to crack down on such demonstrations.

Every Burmese person knows of the town's role in the democracy movement in Burma due to the many protests that have been staged there. As a result of the protests, many democracy activists in the town have been arrested by the authorities and sentenced to long prison terms.

U Kyaw Khaing, Chairman of Taungup Township's NLD, was sentenced to two years in prison while Ko Min Aung, General Secretary of the township NLD, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

U Khin Hla, Vice-Chairman of Taungup Township's NLD, as well as many youths, including Ms. Ni Ni May Myint, Moe Nay Soe, Chit Mg Mg, Maung Maung Thet, and Than Htay, are being detained in several prisons for their anti-junta activities.

Speaking to Narinjara over the phone, a youth from Taungup said, "The authority has been distributing electricity twice a day to our town, during the day and night, since the beginning of August. It is very strange compared to previous times, but I know why the authority is supplying more power to our town - it is intended to placate people and lure them to support the government."

The authority supplies electricity from the state-owned generator in the town from 6 pm to 10 pm at night, and supplies electricity from another generator owned by businessman U Kyauk Taung from 10 am to 4 pm during the day.

"U Kyauk Taung is a business partner of army generals in Burma. He distributes the electricity in the town during the day, but the authority provides the fuel for his generator," the youth said.

According to a local source, the government has also constructed a black-top paved road between downtown and the traffic jetty in a further attempt to gain support of the locals for the upcoming election, and to avoid protests. The road was ruthless in the past and people were unable to travel it in cars.

In Arakan State there are several towns larger than Taungup, including Sittwe, Thandwe, and Kyauk Pru, but they are currently not getting more than three hours of electricity a day.


Narinjara
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...
1 comment
Read more

Ancient Rakhine City of Mrauk-U Proposed for UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Irrawaddy YANGON—Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture submitted the final draft of its nomination for Mrauk-U to become a World Heritage Site to UNESCO on Monday, four months after the ministry submitted the first draft of its nomination in September 2019. If the application succeeds, Mrauk-U will be the third place in Myanmar to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after the ancient cities of Bagan and Pyu. Mrauk-U is located in northern Rakhine State, around 60 km from the state capital of Sittwe. The ancient city was the seat of Arakanese kings from the 1400s until the late 1700s. At the height of their power, they controlled an area covering large parts of eastern Bengal, modern-day Rakhine State and the western part of central Myanmar. Much of the city’s remains are well-preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered between the lush hills of northern Rakhine. Mrauk-U Heritage Trust chairwoman Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy on Tue...
1 comment
Read more

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...
Post a Comment
Read more