THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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RFD says land plots mistakenly marked within national park boundaries

RFD says land plots mistakenly marked within national park boundaries

A MAPPING error has led to several privately owned land plots being declared as encroaching into forestland in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong District, the Land Department said yesterday.

This problem is a common one, and this case involved forestland at the so-called “Hi-Society Hill”, the department said. 
Since Sunday, a Royal Forest Department (RFD) team led by director-general Chonlatid Suraswadi and Phrayak Phrai Taskforce has been investigating cases of land owners encroaching into Mae Tachang and Mae Kanin forest preserves in Hang Dong district. 
Officials said that even though the investigation was not yet finalised, it is clear that some of the plots, for which land deeds have been issued, were registered as forested land. 
Chiang Mai Land Office chief Pairat Siansamarn said on Tuesday that the office had conducted a preliminary inspection of the area and found that at least two plots were inside forestland boundaries.
“I [questioned] the officers responsible for registering these plots and learned that a mapping error had been made during a land survey. At first the RFD map indicated these plots were not in the forestland, but later the department said this map was wrong and that the plots were inside the forest,” Pairat said. 
“We have to tell those responsible that the RFD map had indicated the forest boundary wrongly. Unfortunately this is a common problem throughout the North,” he said.
RFD deputy director-general Somchai Masathian also admitted that the problem had taken place because no RFD officer had surveyed the land along with the Land Department when it was registering the land.
“Normally RFD officers have to be present when land surveys are being done near forestland in order to prevent unintentional mistakes,” Somchai said. 
“But the RFD did not join the land survey in many cases, because the Land Department was in a rush to complete the land registration process.” He also said that the landowners had not realised their plots were now encroaching into the forest.
 He said they had purchased the land with genuine deeds, but if it is found that their land was inside |the forest, the deeds would have to |be revoked and the land returned to RFD.
Forest Resources Management Office 1 in Chiang Mai director Chukiat Pongsiriwan said talks would be held between relevant agencies and local authorities tomorrow to solve the problem. The RFD and Land Department will join in the meeting.
Chukiat said there would be a full investigation into the land registration problem. If any officers were found guilty of intentionally defrauding the registration process, they would be punished. 
Pairat said the problem should be solved by sharing information about the land deeds. The Land Department will also set up a committee to look after the revocation process and remedy it.
Another related issue involves the revoking of plots encroaching into the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park land. Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation director-general Thanya Netithammakun, however, pointed out that there was no deforestation in this case and many agencies had used the land since before 1981.
The issue was brought to public interest when a draft of the Royal Decree was released saying that 2,349 rai of land in the national park would be segregated from the park for public use by the Agriculture Department, Agricultural Extension Department, Rice Department, Water Resource Department and National Office of Buddhism.
Thanya said these agencies had used the forestland with proper permission from the RFD, but in 1981 Doi Suthep-Pui National Park was declared over the land, leaving these agencies to face legal issues about land use within the national park area.
“The national park land segregation is not [the same as] deforestation because the land will still belong to the RFD and the official agencies can continue using the land with permission from the RFD,” he explained.
After an online controversy arose over Appeal Court Region 5 building lodges for its officers in the forest near Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, Thanya said the land was surely not in the national park.
“I am not sure who is the owner of the land, but it is clear it is not national park land, so the construction is legal, as long as the court secures permission from the land owner,” he said.
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