Villagers in southern Thailand protested against the military’s proposal to turn parts of a wetland into battle practice ground.
According to Thairath News, about 100 villagers in Khlong Thom Tai Sub-district, Khlong Thom District, of the southern province of Krabi at 11 am on Thursday, 24 September 2015, gathered on a wetland in the district, which they have been using as pasture ground and farmland, to protest the military’s plan to turn the area into a combat practice field.
The military plans to expropriate 8 square km of the wetland which is as large as 20.8 square km or nearly 3,000 football field, as battle practice ground.
Jathuporn Manlek, 48, a representative of the villagers, said that about 200 households of Khlong Thom Tai have been using the area for pasturing and farming for the last 50 years.
He added that as the military is issuing the documents to reclaim the area, the villagers would suffer from not having enough land to farm.
Gen Bhumiphat Bunruangkao, the commander of the 1st Battalion Infantry of the 15 Infantry Department said that the area is a public land plot, which belongs to the district administration and that the villagers have encroached into the areas, using it as farmlands for many years.
The general added, however, that the army would expropriate only parts of the wetland and allow the villagers to continue to farm in the rest.