Thandwe’s tuk-tuk drivers under pressure to register vehicles

By Admin 25 Feb 2023

DMG Newsroom
25 February 2023, Thandwe

A private vehicles supervisory committee in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, under the junta-controlled Thandwe District transportation department, is pressuring tuk-tuk (autorickshaw) drivers to register with it and join a tuk-tuk association to be formed by it.

The Thandwe Township traffic police force, the private vehicles supervisory committee and transportation department summoned tuk-tuk drivers to a meeting on February 16, and warned of action against them if they failed to join the proposed tuk-tuk association.

“They told drivers to join the association or be arrested and pay a fine of 30,000 kyats,” said a source. “They also threatened that their licences will be revoked if the drivers don’t join the association. They have threatened people who lack legal knowledge.”

Tuk-tuk drivers say they have not yet joined the association because it is not clear why they need to join, and what benefits they will get from joining.

“We have licences,” explained one tuk-tuk driver from Thandwe. “We heard we are required to register under the government policy. I don’t want to join the association. But I will have to if others join the association. So far no one has joined it.”

When asked by DMG about the order, the head of the Thandwe District transportation department, U Aung Zaw Moe, said: “If you don’t mind, we have received an instruction from Naypyidaw [not to talk to the media].”

Previously, U Aung Zaw Moe told DMG that all motor vehicles providing transportation services as a business must be under the control of the supervisory committee.

An order issued on December 11 and signed by the secretary of the supervisory committee and approved by the Thandwe District transportation department required tuk-tuk drivers in Thandwe to register and pay a registration fee of 20,000 kyats to the supervisory committee by December 31.

Officials’ recent threats of legal action against tuk-tuk drivers came after none of them registered some two months after the order was issued. There are more than 350 tuk-tuks in Thandwe.

 Another tuk-tuk driver from Thandwe said: “Now we can park anywhere we want while waiting to be hired. If we have to join the association and are told to park in stands designated by them, there could be problems between tuk-tuk drivers.”