Non-approved religious buildings to be demolished

Myanmar government to pull down more than 250 Buddhist structures.

Myanmar:  Buddhist and Islamic buildings built on state-owned land without official approval in Myanmar are being demolished, the Frontier Myanmar website reported a senior government official as saying.

U Myint Win Zaw, the director of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, said Aug. 4 that this would result in 259 Buddhist monasteries, including 173 in the Yangon region being demolished.

"Every religion in Myanmar has to follow rules and regulations," U Myint Win Zaw told the Myanmar language service of RFA.

"We announced this in newspapers to let people know that every person and organization needs permission to build religious buildings," he said.

"If there are religious buildings that were built without permission, we will remove them, and we will take action against those who constructed them if they don't listen to us when we tell them to remove them."

Source: UCAN