People from five villages in Omkoi district protested against a coal mine project and asked the Administrative Court to turn down its environmental impact assessment report.
The villagers marched to the court this morning to ask it to reject the EIA report of the project that they said lacked public participation and was outdated because it had been done a decade ago.
In 2019 local residents asked the Chiang Mai provincial hall to look into the issue. As the previous request was not heeded, they showed up at the court today.
Chalermpong Patanasatkul, former deputy president of the Omkoi sub-district administrative organization, said villagers did not have their say in the EIA report and it contained false information including that about the location of the coal mine which it described as a degraded forest. Actually, he said, the location was a catchment area.
Sumitchai Hatthasan, lawyer of the Center for Protection and Revival of Local Community Rights, said the villagers told the court that the EIA report had been done about a decade ago and there were forged signatures of local people claimed to be the supporters of the project. Those people had been children or illiterate at that time, he said.
The villagers also presented their community health impact assessment report on the project to the court to contest the old EIA report, Mr Sumitchai said. (TNA)
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