Government returns land confiscated by the military in the north

The beneficiaries are the residents of Tant-If, in the northwest of the country. Of the 4 thousand acres expropriated under the Ne Win dictatorship, only 1,200 remain in state hands. After 35 years, the junta agricultural project is acknowledged as a failure.

 

Nyapyidaw (AsiaNews / RFA) - Myanmar ‘s new government has decided to return to the peasants of Tant-Se (North evest the Sagaing region) much of the land expropriated by the military junta in previous decades. At least 2,500 acres will be back in the hands of its rightful owners, from which they were stolen over 35 years ago.

In 1980, the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP), led by dictator Ne Win seized about 4 thousand acres of land in the Shwebo District, destined for the state project called "Wet Toe". The party of the military junta took power in 1962 and Ne Win would remain president until 1988, when he was deposed by a popular revolt.

His socialist and statist policies included the seizure and management of agricultural production. During the decades of dispossession, the Tant-If residents were kept in the dark about who guided the state project, which would be unsuccessful.

Win Tun, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, in a speech to parliament said that the state project will continue only on 1200 acres and will be designed to produce seed for the Farm. The rest of the land will be returned to the farmers.

Landowners and farmers from all parts of Myanmar have been appealing to the government for years to return the hundreds of thousands of acres taken by the military junta in 50 years of government.

• myanmar lands confiscations military junta agricultural
• project state return