Conflict between Telenor Company and Rubber Plantation Owners

July 27, 2016

During the last three weeks, a Telenor Company has been digging in the ground where rubber plantations are located, in Ye Ta Gon and Zee Bin villages along the Three Pagoda Pass road, in Thanbyuzayat Township. The company dug into the ground in order to set up their cable wire, this is causing conflict with the rubber plantation owners. The conflict has not yet been resolved or settled.

Along an 8 mile stretch, from Ye Ta Gon village to Si Bin village, the company has been digging into rubber plantations in order to install their cable wire. Rubber plantation owners are not happy with this and it is causing a lot of unrest.

Nai Kwut Sar, from New Mon State Party, who is negotiating this conflict between the company and the plantation owners stated that “it [cables] goes very far inside to plantation. On the Three Pagoda Pass road, the rule from the government is that the company can only use 100 ft. but the company is using 230 ft., this is causing conflict with plantation owners. It goes beyond 100 ft so it affects their rubber trees. Plantation owners want compensation”.

Nai Kwut Sar continued “Plantation owners called us to compromise on this conflict. For rubber plantation owners, they want compensation because the company dug into their ground and this has affected their rubber trees. For the company, due to the affects to rubber trees, they want to do something for development instead. For compensation, they said they cannot give compensation because; it is along the Three Pagoda Pass Road and has nothing to do with them. It has to do with the Construction Company.”

The company claimed that they would only use 100ft of the rubber plantations along the Three Pagoda Pass road. Since 2014, the Ministry of Construction Department has re-planned to enlarge the road to 230 ft.

“Those rubber plantations which are affected in Ye Ta Gon village by the Telenor Company, rubber plantation owners want compensation. The company said they cannot give compensation. Now this case has been brought to township level in Thanbyuzayat. It is still being investigated. We don’t know the decision yet. It is true that their cable wire is in the rubber plantation gardens. As the construction company has not explained what they were doing before, conflict occurs when the Telenor Company came to dig in the ground”, explained Nai Kyae Mon Ong, another individual who is negotiating the conflict.

According to road laws, released in 2014, from the Ministry of Construction, there are official road territories, for instance, highway are 400ft; special designated roads are 300 ft; international highways are 230 ft; Union local highways are 150 ft; Region/State highways are 150 ft; District/Township highways are 150 ft; and township/village road are 100 ft.

If the company is digging in the ground without permission from the Ministry of Construction, they will be breaking the law and they should abide to road laws.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News