CityNews – Chiang Mai residents held a panel discussion with judicial officials to discuss the Court of Appeals Region 5 residence for judicial officers that many claim is encroaching into the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.
On march 24, a group of citizens, led by Hug Chiang Mai Party, Suebsan Lanna, The Green Beauty Scented Network and Rak Chiang Mai Network, held a meeting at the 700th Anniversary Stadium to discuss options regarding relocating the residences currently being constructed behind the court.
These residences have been dubbed the ‘scar of Chiang Mai’ after being shared widely on social media, showing a housing estate cutting deep into the forests of Doi Suthep.
The project has been under criticism for encroaching into the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, despite being ruled that it was not encroaching the national park due to the fact that the land was gifted to the court from the County Militia Headquarters at 33 Camp Kawila and not part of the national park in the first place.
However, with growing concerns about the environmental impact, Chiang Mai locals began a petition asking authorities to provide further details on the case and consider relocation. The campaigning led to a meeting between Court of Appeals Region 5 and Maj Gen Sathit Srisuwan, chief of the Internal Security Operations Command Region 3 but did not yield any positive results.
Following the unsuccessful meeting, citizens concluded that there are other eligible areas for the project and although the relocation would cost around 300 million baht, compared to the natural destruction that will occur if built in the current location, the budget will be worth it.
Today, March 26th, the networks will file a petition to the governor of Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai Provincial Treasury Office to find a budget to relocated the village and return the current land to nature.