The ministries of Agriculture and the Natural Resources and Environment appear to be at the loggerheads over land ownership claims in Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
On Tuesday this week, Chaiwat Limlikhitaksorn, chief of the Office of National Parks at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, went to Khao Yai National Park to investigate alleged encroachment, claiming the plot of land in question is part of the land reform area for the issuance of land title deeds.
Chaiwat reportedly ordered the demarcation marking removed and filed land encroachment complaint at the Mu See police station.
About 416 hectares of land in Khao Yai National Park are being claimed as part of the land reform area by the Land Reform Office in Nakhon Ratchasima, with land title deeds to be distributed to landless people under the land reform program.
Park officials had contacted the Land Reform Office to seek clarification about land demarcation in the park’s area, but the response was vague.
Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao, the driving force behind the plan to issue land title deeds for land reform plots, went to the national park on Thursday to investigate the conflict.
After the trip, the minister told the media that he disagrees with the arbitrary removal of the demarcation marking stone by park officials, claiming that it is state property.
He suggested a joint committee be set up by the Agriculture Ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, both under the supervision of the Palang Pracharath party, to settle the conflict based on legal principles.
The land in and around Khao Yai national park is much sought after by resort and property developers. Some prime plots are priced at about 30 million baht per rai (0.16 hectares), but on the condition that there is an associated land title deed.
