CNI News
23 July 2022
Residents of Northern Maung Taw township have faced shortages of rice and food supplies due to travel restrictions on freight trucks, private vehicles and motorcycles travelling through the northern and southern parts of Maung Taw imposed by checkpoints.
As it had been three days since the travel restrictions were imposed, residents of Taung Pyo Village in northern Maung Taw could not buy rice and faced shortages, Ko Maung Maung Tun, a local resident, told the CNI.
“It is the third day since traffic movement has been shut down to our northern part. Local residents of Taung Pyo, where I live, have faced rice shortages and cannot buy rice. As public transportation has been banned, we have difficulties like rice shortages,” he said.
As residents of northern Muang Taw have to buy rice and foodstuffs in Maung Taw, travel restrictions have posed difficulties for them.
Since they are not rich enough to store large volumes of rice, local residents have faced more difficulties.
While downtown foodstuff sellers from Maung Taw had to rely on customers from the northern part, the sale of foodstuffs had come to a halt for three days, according to a foodstuff grocery owner.
The clock tower in downtown Maung Taw.
“The sale has come to a stop abruptly for three days. There are 53 villages including Muslim villages in the northern part of the township. As checkpoints have tightened the control, they have stopped coming to town. So, no villager came to us and the sale has come to a stop abruptly,” he told the CNI.
Some residents completely avoid travelling to the town and sharing foodstuffs in their village with others, U Maung Hla, a resident of Khon Daing Village in northern Maung Taw, told the CNI.
“Under such circumstances, we do not go to town even if we need food. So, Most of them share what they have in the village. No one goes to other parts of the township for food,” he said.
Maung Taw Township is divided into the northern part, where there are 53 villages and the southern part, where there are only 18 villages. Therefore, foodstuff grocery stores have to rely on the northern villages and the sale has come to a standstill.
Furthermore, residents of some villages were allowed to carry rice as much as they can carry on their shoulders and residents from other villages were not permitted to carry rice completely, according to local residents.
After fighting erupted between the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw, local residents were rounded up by the Tatmadaw and a total of eight residents have been arrested so far, according to local news agencies.
