"Doi Suthep"

The entire Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, which covers the three Chiang Mai districts of Muang, Mae Rim and Hangdong, will be closed until April 30 to prevent forest fires, which have led to air pollution in the North, park chief Suthin Phromplad announced on Thursday.

Stringent measures are being put in place to control forest fires in several parts of Chiang Mai with the aim of easing air pollution.

Some 30,000 students, personnel and alumnus of Chiang Mai University took part in the university’s annual trek up the mountain towards Wat Phra That Doi Suthep on Saturday morning.

The Judiciary Office has allocated Bt19 million for the rehabilitation of a plot of land at the foot of Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep, which was recently the subject of controversy and protests from locals and environmentalists.

A Chinese man was caught stealing a camera belonging to a Spanish couple in Chiang Mai on Tuesday.

THE NETWORK to Reclaim Doi Suthep Forest yesterday boycotted a meeting, as it pressed the government to make clear its stance on the rehabilitation of the forest that was encroached on by now-abandoned residences for judges and court officials.

THE DOI SUTHEP Forest Reclamation Network on Tuesday lit more than 500 candles at Tha Pae Gate in Chiang Mai city, saying the protest reflected the light in people’s hearts against the dark shadow the regional court’s housing project had cast over the revered mountain.

Banners revealing the names of appeal court officials who live at the controversial housing estate at the foot of forested Doi Suthep mountain were found in Chiang Mai on Thursday morning.

IT IS STILL unclear whether the buildings, initially planned as residences for court officials and judges, in Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep forestland will be torn down in response to calls from environmentalists.

THE DOI Suthep Forest Reclamation Network yesterday issued a statement demanding the government expedite the removal of court properties allegedly encroaching on protected woodland on the Chiang Mai mountain.

An environmentalist and a monk walked 100 kilometres from Chiang Mai’s Chiang Dao district to Muang district to join a protest planned Sunday against the new court office and residences that have been built on Doi Suthep.

The Doi Suthep Forest Reclamation Network along with its allies will hold a major rally in Chiang Mai on August 26 to demand that buildings in Doi Suthep’s pristine forest be demolished.