A pilot project to register squatters living in Yangon Region was conducted on September 2 in South Dagon Myothit Township.
The project reportedly faced many obstacles such as weaknesses in technological know-how and data collection techniques.
“Since yesterday, we collected about 2,000 numbers. The number of squatters increased not because of technical errors but because some people took advantage of this and inflated the numbers beyond the actual number of squatters. Several people registered as squatters more than once,” said MP Nyi Nyi.
“Another thing we found was that even wealthy and middle-class people who own gold chains or bracelets registered as squatters. For example, when we asked for the names of the members of a family of six, including four children, they mentioned only one child, and when we asked for the names of the other three children, they said they were in Malaysia working as migrant workers. Even those who can afford to send their children to work abroad are listed as squatters, which made our hearts miserable,” said the MP.
He added that he submitted the data to the Yangon chief minister, who is currently travelling.
“If there are people like these taking advantage, the real poor and needy will be in great difficulty. We found that some township administrations and ward and village administrations face challenges because papers for squatters were released without thorough checks and sometimes through bribes,” said the MP.
Yangon Region chief minister Phyo Min Thein said on May 25 at a meeting at the Yangon Region administration office that squatters lists would be collected and assistance would be provided to squatters.
The number of people claiming to be squatters rose dramatically following the announcement.
Source: Eleven Myanmar