Ayutthaya vendors file eviction case
Almost 50 vendors operating near Wat Phra Mongkhon Bophit in Ayutthaya filed a lawsuit yesterday against their provincial governor and other officials after they were forced to leave the market site.
The lawsuit was brought to the Administrative Court by about 42 vendors, led by Thai Constitution Protection Association secretary-general Srisuwan Janya.
The lawsuit also seeks redress against the Ayutthaya municipality and director of the Ayutthaya-based 3rd Regional Office of Fine Arts.
The vendors called on the court to probe the case and help revoke an eviction order issued by the municipality on Wednesday.
They claim the eviction was unfair as the market areas were designated by municipal authorities that have collected rental fees from vendors for more than 10 years.
They said the rental fee they paid was similar to that at the new market allocated by the municipality.
Under the order, all vendors are required to remove their stalls and move out from the market this month, despite a series of problems with the move to date.
According to the lawsuit, vendors also demanded compensation of 200,000600,000 baht from the authorities.
They have also asked the court to order the Regional Fine Arts Office to carry out maintenance work on the Thai-style pavilion, housing almost 100 shops near the temple, which they say is in poor shape.
The ancient temple was declared a World Heritage site by Unesco.
The municipality has been negotiating for several years on the proposal to move all shops to a new market, provided by the municipality, behind a now-defunct city hall building.
However, some vendors, who earlier moved to the new location, had to return to the existing market near the temple as the new place was not as well known with tourists, resulting in dwindling incomes.
As for the claim the historical site could be stripped of its World Heritage status due to the market’s poor visual landscape, Mr Srisuwan said the same logic could be applied to the Regional Fine Arts Office’s pavilion as its poor structure and untidy vending stalls also ruin the beauty of the temple.