CityNews – April 29th, Colonel Jirawat Nakrat of Pha Muang Force, assigned the military to join forces to help reclaim forest land.
The group inspected headwater forest in Ban Sinchai of Chaiprakarn’s Nong Bua sub-district, Chiang Mai, where residents and businesses of Ban Nong Kiao, Chiang Dao’s Muang Na sub-district, had trespassed on hundreds rai of land to plant corns for big corporations, causing drought to local residents in Chaiprakarn district.
Around 120 officers, authorities, and the military summoned residents who were trespassing on the forest to inspect the area together as well as to summon them for negotiation in order to come to an agreement, in accordance to the command of National Council for Peace and Order (NCOP) to return the forest to its natural state.
The officials said that residents were allowed to harvest the fields already planted but after this harvest, all land would be returned to its natural condition.
Intruders who have not yet reported themselves to the officers or who stand against this edict will be prosecuted. In total, over 700 rai of land is to be reclaimed and returned to the Pha Daeng National Park.