‘1,000 poor families face eviction’ from ALRO land in South, leader warns

ALRO branches in Krabi and Surat Thani yesterday placed notices summoning owners of the targeted plots, telling them to hand in documents to prove their rights to the land.
Meanwhile, an ALRO officer said people who fail to verify that they legally occupy the blocks would have to move out and the land would be seized – whether they are rich or poor.
Krabi ALRO chief Banthoon Bunnarakorn said illegal encroachment had been a chronic problem on ALRO land in the province for very long time. Both entrepreneurs and poor people had grabbed land illegally. So all those unlawfully on ALRO land must move out, according to a mandate by the military’s ruling National Council for Peace and Order.
“We are complying with the NCPO order to seize the ALRO land back from illegal occupiers, as we are placing the notifications to let the ‘owners’ show up and verify their land rights within 15 days.
“Failing to do so will allow us to seize the land and those who live on the land will have to move away,” Banthoon said.
He said the office had put notices up on 18 targeted plots in the province and more plots would follow, as the office was currently mapping the land and preparing to present details to the central ALRO office.
“Many of the targeted land plots are palm plantations that have people from other areas settled on the land. It is still unclear how we should treat those people, but we have to follow the government policy,” he said.
“In my opinion, we should move them all out and redistribute the land for the real landless farmers who are native to Krabi first. This way we |can ensure that the land will be |available for local people who need land, not people from elsewhere.”
There are similar problems in nearby Surat Thani province. Suraphol Songrak, a member of the Southern Farmers Union executive committee from Klong Sai Pattana Village in Chai Buri district, said the community had become fearful as the Surat Thani ALRO Office yesterday put up a notice to reclaim the plot that the community lives on.

Community ‘already accepted’
“We asked the Surat Thani ALRO Office for clarification about implementation of the NCPO order. But the answer was they have to follow the order strictly. Therefore, it is very likely that they will force us off our land,” Suraphol said.
“We understand the good intent of the prime minister – that he wants to seize land from capitalists and return it to the poor and landless. But he may not know that there are many poor and landless people living on these targeted plots who face the threat of losing their land because of his policy,” he said.
Suraphol said that in Surat Thani alone there were nearly a thousand families living in eight villages on the plots targeted for reclamation.
He defended his community, Klong Sai Pattana Village, saying it had already been accepted by the committee set up to allocate communal-land-right deeds. Moreover, the community has set up an agricultural cooperative to prepare for when communal land deeds are distributed.
“The community will appeal to ALRO to reconsider the implementation plan, so that it doesn’t evict poor people. And on Monday the community will go to Bangkok to present a petition to the agriculture and cooperatives minister,” he said.
Order No 36/2559 was issued by the NCPO on July 5 with the prime minister exercising power under Article 44 of the junta-imposed 2014 interim Charter to seize some 432,765 rai (69,242 hectares) of illegally occupied ALRO land nationwide. The first phase of the land reclamation has begun.