Long-tail owners win klong dispute

BANG TAO: Following a protest by local long-tail boat owners, the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) has ordered a halt to a land modification project by a local landowner. The protest, by Bang Tao boetmen, came after the landowner started filling in the klong, apparently intending to shift the course of the canal so that he could expand his land. Siri Yongtong, chairman of the OrBorTor said, “We’ve discovered that the owner asked the Bang Tao Village Committee for permission to change the course of the klong. And he said that the committee agreed that he could do so and that the relevant documents were sent to the OrBorTor.” But, he added, “The Bang Tao Long-tail Boat Club protested against the project because this is a public klong and they do not want it altered. “We have made checks and have discovered that filling in a klong contravenes the law, which says that no one may make changes to a piece of land that result in changes to the path of a waterway. “So we don’t have the power to give the landowner permission to do this.” K. Siri said that the landowner, whom he declined to name, had already halted construction. A meeting will be held between members of the OrBorTor, the Bang Tao Village Committee and the landowner to examine the deed for the land in question. The land is about one rai in area, K. Siri said, and the owner wanted to make the changes in preparation for selling it. The Cherng Talay OrBorTor has reported the situation to the Thalang District Land Department so that the land can be resurveyed and checked against the deed.