FARM DISTRIBUTION SCHEME
POST REPORTERS
The government's plan to distribute unused land owed by the State Property Bureau to poor farmers could hit a snag _ the armed forces don't want to give it up.
The largest share of the bureau's land is rented by the Defence Ministry, which will be the first agency asked to hand some of it back, a source at the Treasury Department said.
The department, which oversees the property bureau, was on Tuesday ordered by the cabinet to get one million rai of land back from other agencies, so it can be allocated to landless farmers.
Army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda had ordered a review of bureau-owned land countrywide to consider how much the army could return to the owner, and quickly came up with the answer.
''We've replied to the bureau that all the land is being used,'' the source said.
Many areas have been turned in to bases for military units or training sites, or set aside for ''secret'' purposes. The rest of the land is covered by vast tracks of forest, according to the source.
Deputy army spokeswoman Col Sirichan Ngathong said the answer was not final. ''But whether we would give some back to the government depends on our commander,'' she said.
The army is believed to control most of the land the Defence Ministry rents from the property bureau. It has four million rai in 58 provinces.
The bureau has 12.5 million of land in all provinces. Much of it is in Kanchanaburi followed by Surat Thani, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Ratchasima and Kalasin. The rent is just 20 baht per rai.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has set three months as the deadline for the plan to be realised.
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