Houses, shops occupying former Ann police station site ordered to vacate

By DMG 25 Apr 2022

DMG Newsroom
25 April 2022, Ann 

The Ann Township police force has ordered houses and shops occupying the former site of the township central police station to move by May 21.

Those who fail to vacate by the deadline will be forcibly removed under the Government Building Eviction Act of 1955, reads the eviction notice.

Some occupants began demolishing their houses and shops on Sunday. 

“Authorities came and told us to demolish our buildings, which we did. We don’t know why. We bought the land here. We paid 8 to 10 million kyats per land plot. Monsoon [season] is approaching, and we have nowhere else to live,” said a resident.

Residents asked authorities to compensate them for their land plots, but the authorities have not responded.

In 1995, parts of old Ann town were relocated to make way for an airport project. Houses as well as government offices were relocated, said Ann resident Ko Myo Lwin.

“The town was relocated to its current location in 1995 to make way for the airport project. However, people found it difficult to do business in the new place, which is sparsely populated,” said Ko Myo Lwin. “A decade later, people moved back to the former site of the police station by paying rent to the police.”

There are currently almost 100 houses and shops on the former site of the police station, he added.

Authorities did not collect rent from them under the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, said residents. 

When asked by DMG about the eviction notice, the chief of the Ann Township central police station, Police Captain Myo Kyi, said he had no knowledge of the eviction.

Police have also ordered some 100 more houses occupying the former site of the General Administration Department and lands adjacent to the airport runway to move by April 30, according to local residents.

People living on a hill near the new Ann town were also forced to move by the local military battalion, which claimed that occupants were squatting on military-owned land.