State railway officials set a barricade at the entrance to 35-rai of land the agency owns in Bangkok's Chatuchak district on Friday, in the latest attempt to force out vendors illegally using the site, which is needed for the Red Line train route.
Accompanied by police from Bang Sue police station, workmen placed large concrete barriers across the entrance to the land on Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road near Mor Chit bus terminal.
According to the State Railway of Thailand, the vendors are trespassing on the land and hampering the construction of the train maintenance depot for the Red Line, which will link Bang Sue and Rangsit.
SRT acting governor Worawut Mala said on Friday the agency had tried asking the vendors "nicely" to leave, but they did not leave, so now it was time to enforce the law.
The vendors would be given another seven days to dismantle their structures and remove their belongings. A sign requesting the return of the site had been posted since Sept 2, he added.
"The Red Line's construction is being delayed because the contractors cannot move in and do their work. The SRT is being forced to extend the construction contract, so it's time to enforce the law against the illegal occupants," he said.
Mr Worawut strongly denied a claim by one of the squatters that the SRT was allocated a budget of 100 million baht to reimburse the vendors for the demolition of their property.
He said the vendors trespassed on the property and no land-use contract had been signed with them, so it was not possible for the SRT to seek funds to pay them compensation.
Chaisit Ngamsap, one of the occupants, on Friday claimed he was given a contract to rehabilitate the 35-rai section and collect fees for the SRT. He also produced receipts and documents to substantiate his claim.
He claimed the SRT had, in fact, been allocated the budget of 100 million baht to reimburse vendors for the cost of dismantling of their structures and moving out, but the SRT never paid them any money.