Wildlife, land staff at odds over probe

Land officials have taken aim at wildlife officials’ lack of expertise in scrutinising land documents, which they believe is causing slow progress in the forest encroachment probe in Sirinat National Park.

Land Department chief Siripong Hantragul was responding yesterday to an accusation by park officials that his department has not been fully cooperative in the ongoing investigation into major alleged forest encroachment on Phuket.

Since November last year, national park officials have been looking into alleged irregularities in the acquisition of 815 plots of land, covering more than 3,000 rai and worth around 100 billion baht, for which they need documents for inspection, particularly Sor Khor 1, which gives land ownership details.

However, a National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department probe panel reported last week that so far only 16 land plots, covering 244 rai, have been examined, with the delay due mainly to the Land Department not cooperating in providing documentation.

Mr Siripong insisted his department had given copies of all key documents to park officials and he did not think the problem resulted from delays in providing them.

Inspecting land documents requires special skills to understand regulations that may change over time, he said.

“Park officials probably do not have this expertise,” Mr Siripong said.

Land officials have been told to help investigators deal with the paperwork and cooperate better with the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, he said.

The department intends to finish its investigation into the land disputes in the park by the end of March.