Locals seek help over home razings

More than 30 local residents are seeking help from the Phuket provincial office to deal with what they call a “drastic” move by local officials to knock down their houses which were allegedly built without proper permission.

The demolition work, carried out by Kamala Tambon Administration Organisation (TAO) since Tuesday, has faced no physical resistance, but residents who witnessed their houses being razed to the ground staged a protest demanding the removal work be suspended as the issue is being contested in court.

The TAO accused the villagers of building their houses without permission on a plot of land near a public park where a tsunami memorial is located. The land owners, however, deny the accusation.

“We insist we’ve occupied the land for a long time and have legal land documents to prove it,” said Watchara Koisakun, a representative of the residents. He and other locals rallied at the provincial hall yesterday and petitioned against the demolition order.

Demanding fair treatment, the residents claimed the TAO refused to listen to their concerns and demolished their houses regardless.

The TAO insisted it had earlier told land occupants to knock down their houses and vacate the plots, but residents refused to budge.

Officials said they issued the demolition order on Aug 3 last year after finding land occupants had violated the 1979 Building Control Act.

The issue was later considered by a provincial committee assigned to look into the land conflict. The committee eventually upheld the order, telling at least seven land occupants to raze their houses on Feb 24.

Three of the land occupants are from the Koisakun family. They are Sarayut, Suek and Somwang. The other four are Thiwa Khunthong, Nikhom Phloikhao, Aaeo Kantangkun and Sukhon Chinnaphan.

The residents were given seven days to tear down their houses, according to the committee’s ruling.

If they did not comply with the order, the TAO would go ahead with the demolition and the land occupants would have to bear the expenses and risk being punished for violating an order.

The provincial hall promised to pass residents’ complaints to various state agencies.

Meanwhile, Mr Watchara said his group planned to seek justice from the government, saying the residents were not being treated fairly.

ACHADTAYA CHUENNIRAN Residents show photos of their houses being razed by Kamala Tambon Administration Organisation in Phuket. They cried foul over the TAO’s ‘unfair treatment’, saying the demolition must stop as the dispute over land ownership is being contested in court.