SAGAING DIVISION – The locals from Tharsi Village, Kalay Township said that the local farmers were facing difficulties as the junta council forces stationed in the village forcibly collected money from the farmers as harvest fees.
The junta council forces stationed in Tharsi Village collected from 5 Lakhs to 10 lakhs and threatened to open fire on the farmers who wouldn’t pay, said a local farmer.
He added that they didn’t collect based on acre but arbitrarily collected from 5 Lakhs to up to 10 lakhs per farmer. “If we tried to harvest without paying them, they threatened to shoot us.”
He also said that most of farmers were facing difficulties with harvesting because of the exorbitant amount of extortion and as that amount of money is enough to cover their living expenses for a year, they decided to stop harvesting.
It has been reported that Tharsi Village was a village to the south of Kalay on the Kalay-Gangaw Road. Junta forces invaded the village in early June this year and burnt and destroyed over 200 houses and have been stationed in the middle of the village since.