Police raid Kanchanaburi resorts for land encroachment

There’s been a new incident of Thailand’s tourism industry disturbing the country’s nature, this time in Kanchanaburi. Police in the western province have raided 4 resorts yesterday that encroached on forest land, as well as land belonging to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

The police busted resorts around a dam in the Sri Sawat district. The first resort had 7 buildings and 20 raft houses in the dam’s area belonging to EGAT. The resort was built using a Nor Sor 3 land title, which allows land owners to build on land that they don’t fully own.

It is alleged the resort illegally expanded onto about 6 rai EGAT’s land. Police chief Pongpetch Ketsupa said the buildings and raft houses were built without a permit from local authorities. He said the encroached land has now been seized, and the investigation team will take the case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

At the second resort, police arrested 4 workers for illegally clearing EGAT’s land for construction. Their employer was also arrested.

The third resort had cleared out a forest area to build a road and a structure on a hill near the dam. Pongpetch said the resort encroached on about 1 rai of land (about 1600 metres). The fourth resort had cleared about 5 rai of the forest reserve area.

Local police are putting their heads together with environmental officers to continue investigating the resorts’ land encroachment for further arrests and legal steps.

Another major incident of land encroachment in Thailand happened last month in Phuket’s Kamala Hills. After Thai media reported construction tools and trucks digging soil on a hill in Kamala, a town in Phuket, officials have banned any further excavation on the site.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post