Because of the high number of illegal sawmills in the area the authorities ordered a halt to all timber production in Yawksawk Township, Southern Shan State on 30 March according to local residents.
Because there has been a lot of illegal timber production in the area over the past year local residents collected information and then complained to the relevant government departments, which resulted in the present ban being declared.
U Sein Win, a social activist from Yawksawk Township said: “There are over 200 sawmills in Yawksawk Township, but only 10 of them have legal approval, that is why we complained and demanded that they get inspected.”
He said that when the authorities ordered the sawmills to stop operating 15 of the sawmill owners came and offered him a bribe so that they could re-open their sawmills.
U Sein Win said: “We can only report illegal timber production to the authorities, we have no authority to stop sawmills or allow them to operate.”
When the authorities carried out a surprise check at a timber company on 23 March a company employee fought with a policeman.
Thet New Oo, the head of Yawksawk police station said that this year they have already prosecuted two cases of illegal timber production and that they also took action against illegal timber producers last year.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
