10 resorts in Phu Tub Berk face demolition, villagers charged

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ENVIRONMENT
10 resorts in Phu Tub Berk face demolition, villagers charged
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- THE Royal Forestry Department is going ahead with the demolition of 10 resorts in Petchabun's Phu Tub Berk mountainous area after a court ruled that they were violating the law and ordered occupants to leave immediately, the department's director-general Chonlatid Suraswadi said yesterday.

Chonlatid added that officials were ready to apply special laws against anybody who obstructs the operation or refuses to cooperate. He said related agencies were formulating a land-management plan for the 47,000-rai Phu Tub Berk area, which should be ready in three months.

Chonlatid visited the province yesterday morning to attend a meeting of officials on the illegal construction and land encroachment.

According to the Department of Social Development and Welfare, as many as 57 resorts have been accused of misusing land plots that had originally been allocated to hilltribes for agricultural use. So far, 10 resorts face prosecution and their occupants have been ordered to leave.

Meanwhile, three villagers in Sakhon Nakhon's Phu Phan district have been sentenced to jail for encroaching into the Pa Dong Chom Phu Phan and Dong Kracher national forests, while six other villagers have been given two-year suspended jail terms.

The Sakon Nakhon Provincial Court on Wednesday sentenced Surat Sriswasdee to six years in jail, which was then halved, while her aunt Kong Pongsakbun was given a two-and-a-half-year term. Kong's husband Boonsom Pongsakbun, who was also given a two-and-half-year term, was released after his relatives came up with Bt270,000 in bail. The two women were still behind bars at press time yesterday because their relatives were unable to find the Bt600,000 needed for their temporary release.

"This forest-encroachment allegation made against the villagers is putting many families under huge debt," Sudthida Pongsakbun, a relative of the three defendants, said.

Some 50 members of the Isaan Land Reform Network and the Thai Ban Phuraisit Sakon Nakhon were also at court to give moral support to the defendants. The three defendants are among the 31 villagers from Ban Chad Rabeab in tambon Lub Lao who face forest-encroachment charges.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/10-resorts-in-Phu-Tub-Berk-face-demolition-village-30271426.html


-- The Nation 2015-10-23

[stoneyboy]

Good,it's a wonderful part of the country but as is always the greed factor kicks in and it simply gets ruined by people trying to make a few baht,the same happened in neighbouring Khao Khor a few years back although that area has continued to grow but it's not like Phu Tab Berk as its so much more confined.

[chainarong]

Let's get some responsibility going here who allowed these projects to go ahead in the first place, what was the departments concerned doing during the PTP administration period , from Tarit down there seems to be once again a systematic failure to administer anything in Thailand without it being a total shamozzle.

[Gonsalviz]

The place does nothing for me. Too many 'resorts' and not enough food. Besides it is a mountain top of farm fields and BKK drivers just make it a PIA to be there.

I just made my 2nd trip there last week, not like I wanted to. The last was about 1 1/2 yrs ago. I doubt I'll ever be persuaded to go again.

Encroach away.

[jerojero]

And how was this allowed to happen in the first place under the virtuous democratically elected governments of past?