Onerous Kyaukphyu checkpoint gets state-level SAC’s attention

By DMG 19 Mar 2021

DMG Newsroom
19 March 2021, Kyaukphyu

A team from the military-run state administration council, CSOs and town elders in Arkan State’s Kyaukphyu town held a meeting on March 19 to discuss removing a checkpoint near Kyauk Talone Pagoda that was established during the COVID-19 outbreak, ostensibly to beat back spread of the virus at the time.

The Kyaukphyu Township Administration Council will submit the desires of the residents of the town to remove the checkpoint at the entrance of the town to the district Administration Council, said U Hla Myo Kyaw, who attended the meeting as a representative of the town.

“Representatives of the town and all town elders proposed that the checkpoint should be removed. The township council will submit the desire of the people to the district council,” he said.

The chair of the Township Administration Council, lower-level Tatmadaw officers, Police Force and Immigration Department representatives, as well as CSOs and town elders, provided input on the meeting about removing the checkpoint.

Local residents in Kyaukphyu Township and travellers have called for the removal of a COVID-19 checkpoint near Kyauk Talone Pagoda, claiming that automobiles and motorbikes have been subjected to inspections irrelevant to pandemic measures.

Residents are seeking to dismantle the checkpoint because they contend that the vehicle checks — including license plate number, ID card number and address — are data not related to pandemic preventive measures.

“If the checkpoint is not removed, an undesirable problem would occur. If there is protest in the town, it is not good for both people and the administration of the town. I’d like to abolish it to prevent such an undesirable problem,” said U Poe San, former Arakan State Hluttaw lawyer in Kyaukphyu Township.

Colonel Min Than, a member of the Arakan State Administration Council, told media that the checkpoint at the entrance of Kyaukphyu town was already removed.

DMG phoned the township Administration Council seeking comment on the case, but the chair of the township Administration Council said he was not allowed to provide comment to DMG.