20160215 Myanmar Beach fire raises suspicions
Myanmar Feb 15 2016 “Houses” “Stores”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Beach fire raises suspicions
Updated: 2016-02-15
About 65 people have been left homeless after a fire in Maungmakan village, Tanintharyi Region.
Restaurant owners and residents whose homes and businesses were destroyed by a fire are being left in the lurch as powerful connections appear to have created a zone of impunity around the incident.
The Tanintharyi Region residents say harsh laws that require the police to open a case against the owner of premises destroyed by fire are not being applied in this case, and attribute the exemption to a power play.
The February 8 blaze occurred in Maungmakan village near the beach administrative committee’s office. The area’s famous beach has lately begun to attract more tourist attention. Up to 15 shops were destroyed, but the victims say the authorities have taken no action.
Nobody was killed or injured in the fire, but about 65 people are homeless.
Shopkeepers said it was suspicious that even several days after the fire, they had “heard nothing from the authorities”.
“If one of the shop owners was to blame, he would certainly be in jail by now. But if the fire was caused by the power company, nobody is accountable,” said U Tin Maung Mon, owner of the No Signboard restaurant that was burned down.
A fire department spokesperson said the official cause of the fire was a transformer issue, with rusted wires emitting sparks that then caught on hay. The owners and residents are demanding action against the electricity company they hold responsible for the disaster. Dawei Development Public Company is the main contractor responsible for power in Dawei district, but the technology and ground distribution is handled by the Ministry of Electricity, according to U Zaw Myint Htwe, a township electrical engineer.
Even the cause of the fire is disputed, however. District electrical engineer U Min Thiha said there was no evidence of the transformer or breakers malfunctioning.
“There is fire alert system that automatically cuts the power when such errors occur. But there were no alert signals set off that night. We assume that instead the fire was caused by something else, such as a cigarette,” he said.
The fire department estimates losses at about K9 million, but the shop owners dispute the figure, saying their individual investment ranges from K10 million to K20 million.
The burned-out residents have written to the outgoing Tanintharyi Region chief minister and new parliamentary Speaker calling for assistance.
U Aung Htwe, owner of Aung San restaurant, said, “We want our land back, and help from the village and township administrators. We want to rebuild our businesses and get back to work as soon as possible, and we want to know the truth about the fire outbreak.”
The shop owners had cleared a long stretch of trees along the beach to make way for their restaurants. However, they have no proof of ownership of the land, which is said to have been confiscated by the military. They say they have been paying income and community development taxes annually to the local authorities.
“We were driven out of Ayeyarwady Region by Cyclone Nargis [in 2008],” said mother-of-two Daw Than Than Win. “We are worried about the ownership question, though some owners have bought the land from local residents.”
U Yuu Thein, Maungmakan village tract administrator, said the shop owners had apparently settled illegally, and there was no plan to restore their homes.
“I don’t know if they can get their land back or rebuild their shops. The regional government is trying to assess the amount of loss based on tax receipts,” he said.
Web Source: MYANMAR TIMES
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/18987-beach-fire-raises-suspicions.html