Resort operators to be hit with civil lawsuits

Atthapol Charoenchansa said the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) had also assigned Manop Sai-Unjai, head of the Forest Resource Management Office 4, to ask the provincial public prosecutor to file a request for legal execution to the Lomsak Provincial Court – to make way for the demolition of resorts.
The RFD is gathering information to consider filing civil lawsuits against the 10 resorts to seek additional compensation of about Bt90,000-Bt150,000 per rai, he said.
Chonlatit Surasawadee, chief of the RFD, said officials have been inspecting the resorts since Sunday to confirm the alleged misuse of state land. He said the department had initially concluded that new investors accounted for more than half of the alleged encroachment on forestland at Phu Tub Berk.
As of Monday, the team, led by his deputy Somchai Masathien, reported the arrest of many more land encroachers than the reported figure of 62 cases.
Chonlatit also said the engineering team’s inspection of structures at 40 resorts found that many buildings were situated in spots that were at risk from landslides and their structures were not strongly built.
Adirek Wattana-udomchai, an official at Phetchabun Public Works office , confirmed that the structure-checking team at Phu Tub Berk should complete the task on Thursday.
With Phu Tub Berk having been set aside by the authorities for the resettlement of Hmong people, the Department of Social Development and Welfare was surveying the number of Hmong who had original land use rights and built structures there, Puttipat Lertchaowasit, chief of the department, said.