PHETCHABUN – Director-General of the Royal Forest Department Chonlatid Suraswadi has traveled to Phu Thap Boek to carry on with the forest reclamation mission.
Mr. Chonlatid was accompanied by deputy director-general of the Social Development and Welfare Department Narong Kongkam who directs the Phu Thap Boek land reclamation operation, Phetchabun Governor Bundit Teweetiwarak and local forest conservationists. Relevant agencies are to solve the problem within eight months.
A survey, which began in November last year, found that 200 rai out of 13,000 rai of the mountainous area have been taken by more than 90 resort operators. Thirty of them are local people while the rest are from other areas.
Over 30 land encroachers have been prosecuted, 18 of whom were handed a court order to leave the area and demolish their constructions. Under the laws, only the Hmong ethnic people who earlier settled in Phu Thap Boek are allowed to live in the mountainous area.
