Minbya Township General Administration Department issued a local order by permission of Rakhine State Government to stop quarry mining near Kyein Taung pagoda in Minbya Township, Rakhine State.
Some of these companies are working there with official license and some are working illegally. Minbya Township Deputy Administrator Kyaw Thein Tun said that they had now banned all quarries including licensed mines.
The local order also bans the cutting and felling of trees to protect rare species on the brink of extinction.
Local residents said since 1988 under the military government, military units dynamited mountains to produce stones along the Kyein Taung mountain range for road building and sold them to construction companies.
Local people are worried about destroying Kyein Taung pagoda and natural resources in the area. A local elder and resident from Minbya said that quarry mining in Minbya Kyein Taung mountain range had been stopped for about one month.