PHUKET : The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has found a fresh case of forest encroachment by a luxury hotel.
It has decided to forward the case to the Royal Forest Department for further action.
The department originally found a number of hotels and resorts allegedly encroaching on Sirinath National Park. The suspected encroachment cases involve 379 plots of land, covering about 3,000 rai of forest land. The department is pressing forest encroachment charges against the first batch of 14 hotel and resort operators.
However, the department recently found another forest encroachment case in Khao Ruak-Khao Muang forest reserve, where about 25 rai of forest land has been occupied, allegedly by the operator of the Pavilion Beach Resort.
Since the forest reserve is under the Royal Forest Department's supervision, the DNP will inform the department about the alleged encroachment case, said DNP chief Damrong Pidech during his visit to the island to monitor the progress of forest encroachment cases yesterday.
Mr Damrong and national park officials yesterday inspected a land plot, which is part of the luxury hotel's compound, and found the land was in fact located inside Sirinath National Park.
According to Mr Damrong, a five-rai land plot was granted to the late Phuket resident Choey Petkul a long time ago. The plot was later sold to the hotel operator, which allegedly expanded the land from five to 10 rai, some parts of which encroached on the national park area.
National park authorities also found that Choey's name had been used for issuing land documents for other land plots that encroach on the park.
Mr Damrong, who is retiring at the end of this month, said any national park officials implicated in the illegal issuing of land ownership documents would face severe disciplinary and legal action.