The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is preparing to unveil a master plan to cut deforestation by 40% in the next decade.
Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission officials and forest protection officers inspect more than 1,000 rai of land in Saraburi's Muak Lek district. The agencies suspect the land comprises forest reserves that have been encroached upon. Tawatchai Kemgumnerd
The junta ordered the creation of the plan to limit deforestation, tackle land encroachment and introduce more sustainable natural resource management, says Col Banpot Poonpian, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).
The plan has been drafted by Isoc, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and Kasetsart University's Faculty of Forestry.
The plan sets targets to stop deforestation and reclaim encroached land in the next year, improve the efficiency of forest resource management within two years, and rehabilitate damaged forests throughout the country over the next two to 10 years, Col Banpot said.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will lead the drafting of a proposal to implement the plan, he said.
The ministry is also responsible for coordinating the drafting of another plan to care for villagers occupying the forest and nearby areas, he said.
The main aim of the plan was to help villagers earn enough income and have better living conditions, he said.
In another development, authorities yesterday raided 18 holiday houses built on about 1,000 rai of land in Saraburi's Muak Lek district that were found to be in the Muak Lek-Thap Kwang national forest reserve.
The team inspecting the houses in Saraburi consisted of officials from the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), the Chet Sao Noi National Park, Isoc, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, and the Royal Forest Department.
Each house has been sold for between 1 million baht and 1.5 million baht despite the fact they were built on forest reserve land, said Prayong Preeyjit, secretary-general of the PACC.
The houses belonged to a housing project called Sub Ichi. A global positioning system (GPS) survey showed the houses sit on about 1,000 rai out of a total 1,400 rai of forest reserve, he said.
The team also raided another house built on 11 rai of sloping land in a nearby area. Next to this house was a 2-rai mango plantation. Wathinee Sanitchai, showed up to claim ownership of the house and the land, saying she had inherited the land from her ancestors and the house had been built recently as her holiday home. She produced a Sor Por Kor 4-01 title deed as proof of her claim to the land.
Col Pong Silpa, of the Isoc office in Saraburi, said a probe would be conducted to find out how the title deed was issued for the land.