Pareena’s plot to be demarcated
Nobody above the law, says Thamanat
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will survey the disputed 1,706 rai occupied by Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) MP Pareena Kraikupt and re-demarcate the boundaries.
Natural Resource and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said yesterday that the controversial land in Ratchaburi’s Chom Bung district came under the Por Bor Tor 5 title and had no clear boundaries.
The Royal Forestry Department, the Agricultural Land Reform Office (Alro) and a provincial-level committee met on Monday to discuss the issue, and a fresh survey will be held to demarcate the boundaries of the plot, Mr Varawut said.
The PPRP MP for Ratchaburi will be invited to attend the survey and identify the areas she lays claim to, the minister added. He also said that the investigation and boundary demarcation is being prioritised because the MP’s occupation of the land has drawn a lot of public attention.
Asked what happens if Ms Pareena is found to have no right to the land, the minister said he will have to wait for the results.
Earlier, Deputy Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow said he ordered Alro’s secretary-general and chief of the Royal Forestry Department to study the related laws.
Should any of the land plots occupied by Ms Pareena fall under the “land reform” zone, they will be seized. However, he admitted that the demarcation will be difficult and complex.
Plots designated to land-reform zones are meant to be divided among landless farmers, but this area is yet to be allocated.
Ms Pareena’s occupation of the land was questioned earlier by the Pheu Thai Party’s Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, who called on the National Anti-Corruption Commission to look into the matter.
Ms Pareena said her father, former deputy transport minister Tawee Kraikupt, had acquired the land in 2011, and that her family has been paying the “grass-flower” or local tax for using the Por Bor Tor 5 land.
Por Bor Tor 5 only proves that the land occupier has been issued a tax number and has paid tax for using it. The document does not give the occupier any other rights.
Capt Thamanat said an eligible person can only occupy a 50-rai plot in land reform zone and it can only be used for agriculture. This land cannot be sold, though it can be passed down generations.
The deputy minister said it remains to be determined if Ms Pareena had farmed the land, and that he was awaiting an Alro report on how the MP acquired more than 1,000 rai of the land. “The issue is now in the process of legal examination,” Capt Thamanat said.
He also insisted that the examination will be in strict compliance with legal principles, and dismissed comments that the issue will be delayed as he and the MP are members of the ruling PPRP. “The law was not written to exempt anyone from accountability in this case,” he said.