The regime cut off electricity to households in Katha that hadn’t paid their bills after the military took over the country during last year’s coup. The junta-run Electric Power Corporation (EPC) sent out electricity bills for the town in Sagaing Region early last month.
A man who spoke to KNG on condition that his name be kept secret said EPC staff, along with soldiers and police officers, distributed bills in some wards of the town. Soldiers were also sent to protect government employees at the EPC office, where they set up sandbags. Some people had to pay $50 while others owed $500 for over a year of unpaid bills.
“The EPC staffs arrived to cut the main power line from the transformer and now our whole district is without electricity,” another resident told KNG, also wishing to remain anonymous.
Currently, wards 1,2 and 8 in the town and surrounding villages Yay Bok, Wei Gyi, Kyar Inn-kon, Panae Chaung and Pan Thay have been left in the dark.
Katha is where the late English George Orwell’s fictional novel Burmese Days is believed to be based on.
