PM Gives Seized Land to Landless People

In an attempt to help the landless poor, the government is issuing land plots seized from encroaching to landless people across the country. More than 50,000 land plots have been seized since the coup, and now, the government is giving the plots to the landless poor. Section 44 will be used to expedite the allocation project and bypass normal legal procedures.

Land use rights will be granted to residents under the land project. Residents will not be given land ownership rights to prevent them from selling the plots to large businesses.

Gen Prayut made a trip to Chiang Mai yesterday to direct the ceremony. Local residents were given land plots at Ban Hua Say’s national forest reserves in the Mae On District of the Mae Tha tambon. Over 1,000 residents attended the ceremony and waited in hopes of receiving land.

The residents of Chiang Mai are the first to receive such rights under this new project. In total, there have been 1,235 families in Ban Mae Tha awarded the appropriate documentation to use the land plots, which encompass 7,282 rai in the Khun Mae Tha forest reserve. Residents were not given land title deeds, so they cannot sell the plots to business or other individuals.

The next phase of the project will allocate land in the Chom Thong and Hot districts to 1,343 families.

-- 2015-04-06