ALRO plans answer to Wang Nam Kheo-type land abuse
The Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) will next week propose a model to tackle the abuse of agricultural land-reform plots in Nakhon Ratchasima's Wang Nam Kheow district for the agriculture minister's consideration.
ALRO deputy secretary-general Sathidpong Suchikiat said yesterday that ALRO had formulated the model to tackle the Wang Nam Kheow issue, which would divide landlords into four groups - reformed landlords who followed the regulations; reformed landlords who didn't follow regulations; people who bought the reformed lands from original landlords; and people who encroached on the forestland and had not yet been investigated by ALRO.
Sathidpong said there would be some leniency, such as for farmers who kept up their activities while opening homestays as a sideline, who could keep their reformed land ownership. ALRO will not restrict its investigations to Wang Nam Kheow but next year will probe reformed land and land ownership issues nationwide, he added.
Sathidpong said the probe into people illegally building resorts on agricultural land reform plots in Wang Nam Kheow district was 94.18 per cent complete - investigating 6,039 out of 6,412 cases, covering 7,450 plots. So far they had found 1,929 cases or 31.94 per cent violated the regulations.
The probe also checked into land occupied by resorts, restaurants, tourist accommodation and other buildings within the reformed and non-reformed zone, which covered 241,018 rai in Wang Nam Kheow district. Sathidpong said they found 120 such places (21 under previous investigation and 99 newly discovered) in tambon Wang Mee, Udomsap, Rareung, Wang Nam Kheow and Thai Samakkhee. They included 66 resorts/hotels, four restaurants, 24 homes/accommodation with farm plots, three shops, one gas station and one concrete-mixing factory.
Thirteen places facing earlier investigation had reported to the authority and given some information. ALRO will issue an order for eight structures -Phu Khieng Lom, Phu Pha Yok, Rai Juanthong, Holiday Resort, Krua Rim Khuan, Mahogany Hill, Gold Mountain and an unnamed resort - to move off the land within 30 days because they could not explain who authorised their land ownership.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk yesterday ordered Royal Forestry Department (RFD) and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNPWPC) chiefs to proceed with legal action against encroachers on two park areas - the Phu Khao Luang National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima's Wang Nam Kheow district and the Thab Lan National Park in Prachin Buri's Na Dee district.
Asked if there was political pressure to change the investigation outcome for the Wang Nam Kheow area, Preecha said politics wouldn't affect the outcome because the law must come first. No Pheu Thai Party politicians were involved. Preecha said that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had asked him to tackle the land encroachers legally and with transparency and that the ministry had full authority to punish wrongdoers. Confirming that the two departments would proceed, he said the RFD had already sent the case documents to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for a decision on whether to pick up the case.
Preecha affirmed the resort demolition wouldn't affect tourism because only some 100 people would actually lose benefits in this case and they were behind the villagers' opposition to the law-reinforcement. DNPWPC chief Sunan Arunnopparat said resorts and buildings violating the laws would face demolition before New Year 2012 if their appeals were ruled unsuccessful. He said that senior officials, MPs and Senators - including Preecha - gave moral support to the department's strict law-enforcement stance.
