The Military junta is collecting 50,000 kyats per house to feed the junta column that has arrived in Kantbalu town in Sagaing Region, according to local people.
Since last January 28, the Ward Administrators led the collecting money to affordable households in Kantbalu town.
“The administrators say they only accept donations to feed the column _ that has arrived on January 26 _ but we are forced to pay money that they are collecting. They demand houses that are financially rich, such as households that have tractors,” a resident form Kantbalu town said.
The military junta called and held a meeting with businessmen in the town to demand money for their food, then they did collect money, according to an official from the Kantbaly-Kyun Hla Activists Group.
“The businessmen were called to a meeting. Then the junta troops said they would accept donation of the amount they wanted, but it was like a robbery, and all the businessmen from all the wards of the town were there,” he said.
Currently, the military column reportedly is patrolling in Kantbalu township, so local people from 26 villages _ including the villages of Thapyay Thar, Minber, Thetyet Kan Gyi and Nyaung Kai _ were fleeing from the junta column.