Regime soldiers have been going door to door in Kalay Township warning homeowners to pay their electricity bills or lose their power.
“They came to Tar Han ward three times,” and scared everyone, said a man, who wishes to remain anonymous. According the resident of Kalay town, armed soldiers, some of whom were carrying RPGs, delivered the ultimatum to the homeowners in Sagaing Region.
A woman from the ward, who also asked that her name not be published, said the soldiers demanded that she pay her bills for the past six months within a certain period of time. ”I do not know how to do this, but of course I am afraid they will cut off my electricity.”
The residents of the ward only receive about seven hours of electricity per day.
Many people across Burma have refused to pay their electricity bills in protest against the military regime that overthrew the civilian government more than fifteen months ago.
But there are also many who cannot afford to pay after the pandemic and civil unrest led to widespread poverty.
Recently, Burma Army soldiers have torched hundreds of homes in areas of the township where no recent fighting has happened during its ongoing assault against the people and resistance groups fighting to topple the dictatorship.