The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has taken the position that Myanmar migrant workers returning from Thailand will be banned from entering Palaung Japan and Guu Bar village. The NMSP has also decided it will take serious action against labour brokers that are sending workers back to their controlled areas.
NMSP’s Three Pagoda Pass area Administration Secretary-General, Mehm Chan Mon said “I especially want to address the brokers. Do not send people to the Palaung Japan and Guu Bar villages from now on. If they get caught, they will have to pay a fine of up to 50,000 Baht or will be sentenced to three months in prison along with a 30,000 Baht fine following the NMSP headquarters’ order.”
Similarly, returnees from foreign countries must report to their respective ward/ Village Head and follow the rules set by the relevant Quarantine Camps. The NMSP announced that a returnee who fails to abide by the local rules regarding the COVID-19 quarantine protocols in NMSP’s controlled-areas will be punished with a fine of up to 500,000 Kyats or three months in prison.
A Member of Parliament, U Tin Myo Oo (Kyar Inn Seikkyi-2) told the Mon News Agency (MNA) “we are concerned with the labor brokers. We are also worried the brokers will leave returnees halfway before the Nam-Kerk, a Thai checkpoint on the Wengka-Three Pagoda Pass highway route. The brokers are responsible for sending people to their places, but the NMSP has announced they will arrest them, so these migrant workers will not dare go there. If [returnees] are left halfway down the road, we will face another problem.”
More than 100 returnees from Thailand are currently stuck in the Palaung Japan and Guu Bar villages. U Tin Myo Oo has contacted the Karen State Government requesting these returnees be sent to quarantine camps established in their villages, by tomorrow.
Local people from the Three Pagoda Pass area have donated lunch boxes and water bottles to the stranded returnees from Thailand.
