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PHUKET: Hard-hitting action is expected within days against corruption on Phuket's beaches, in national parkland and on outlaw taxis and tuk-tuk drivers after a top-level meeting of the military and police yesterday.
All local Phuket authorities were excluded from the 90 minute gathering, which also included park rangers and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
The secretive summit was followed by a helicopter swoop along Phuket's troubled tourism west coast, where the Army, Navy and police have begun clearing beaches of commerce, and where standover taxi and tuk-tuk drivers are now being forced to surrender their ''mafia'' powers.
Leading the action again today will be one of Thailand's senior military rulers, the Commander-in-Chief of The Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Narong Pipatanasai. He teamed with Phuket police commander Major General Praveen Pongsirin, Sirinath Park officials and the head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Major General Praveen told the Bangkok Post at the weekend that Phuket's jet-ski problem had not been solved, and that they should be banned all together.
He is also the man responsible for heading the four-month investigation of Phuket's taxis and tuk-tuks that has led to more than 100 arrests and links to sponsors among local Phuket authorities.
Defiance among beach restaurants and attempts by taxi and tuk-tuk drivers to resume business as usual are likely to be met with the sternest possible action over the next few days, Phuketwan believes.
Today the admiral and his team will first visit Phuket's nightmarish garbage ''mountain'' in Phuket City, just across a canal from where children play sport and gather in their thousands each Children's Day.
The toxic future of Phuket will be in sharp focus - as it should be on any tourist island that can't properly dispose of its own waste.
From the garbage dump, the admiral's party will move to Phuket's west coast beaches to see the astonishing results of the recent coup clearances, with sands along the entire coast free of sunbeds and private commerce for the first time in decades.
Tomorrow is likely to be crunch day for corruption in Sirinath National Park, where a Department of Special Investigation has followed complaints originally made by the former Director General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Damrong ''The Demolisher'' Pidech.
It's believed some of the Bangkok team will be meeting on Tuesday with the Phuket Land Titles Office, which has in the past refused to give access to key information to investigators.
The focus will be on 43 plots of land allegedly covered by sor kor one titles, which allow individuals to use public land for agricultural purposes only.
The titles have since ''flown and grown,'' Phuketwan understands, meaning they have been transferred to other unintended areas of land and expanded in scale beyond the original permissions.
The authorities aim to look at the use of sor kor one all over Phuket.
Originally, authorities now say, there were just two individuals with the right to use sor por kor plots inside Sirinath National Park.
Two luxury resorts bordering the park and other development properties are at the centre of the present parkland probe, with investigators keen to point out that some of the transgression may be historical with no connection to the present owners.
All local Phuket authorities were excluded from the 90 minute gathering, which also included park rangers and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
The secretive summit was followed by a helicopter swoop along Phuket's troubled tourism west coast, where the Army, Navy and police have begun clearing beaches of commerce, and where standover taxi and tuk-tuk drivers are now being forced to surrender their ''mafia'' powers.
Leading the action again today will be one of Thailand's senior military rulers, the Commander-in-Chief of The Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Narong Pipatanasai. He teamed with Phuket police commander Major General Praveen Pongsirin, Sirinath Park officials and the head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Major General Praveen told the Bangkok Post at the weekend that Phuket's jet-ski problem had not been solved, and that they should be banned all together.
He is also the man responsible for heading the four-month investigation of Phuket's taxis and tuk-tuks that has led to more than 100 arrests and links to sponsors among local Phuket authorities.
Defiance among beach restaurants and attempts by taxi and tuk-tuk drivers to resume business as usual are likely to be met with the sternest possible action over the next few days, Phuketwan believes.
Today the admiral and his team will first visit Phuket's nightmarish garbage ''mountain'' in Phuket City, just across a canal from where children play sport and gather in their thousands each Children's Day.
The toxic future of Phuket will be in sharp focus - as it should be on any tourist island that can't properly dispose of its own waste.
From the garbage dump, the admiral's party will move to Phuket's west coast beaches to see the astonishing results of the recent coup clearances, with sands along the entire coast free of sunbeds and private commerce for the first time in decades.
Tomorrow is likely to be crunch day for corruption in Sirinath National Park, where a Department of Special Investigation has followed complaints originally made by the former Director General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Damrong ''The Demolisher'' Pidech.
It's believed some of the Bangkok team will be meeting on Tuesday with the Phuket Land Titles Office, which has in the past refused to give access to key information to investigators.
The focus will be on 43 plots of land allegedly covered by sor kor one titles, which allow individuals to use public land for agricultural purposes only.
The titles have since ''flown and grown,'' Phuketwan understands, meaning they have been transferred to other unintended areas of land and expanded in scale beyond the original permissions.
The authorities aim to look at the use of sor kor one all over Phuket.
Originally, authorities now say, there were just two individuals with the right to use sor por kor plots inside Sirinath National Park.
Two luxury resorts bordering the park and other development properties are at the centre of the present parkland probe, with investigators keen to point out that some of the transgression may be historical with no connection to the present owners.
I remember an article where Mr. Damrong stated that as the park was established in 1964, any Chanote issued after that would be illegal. Seems pretty clear to me...
Posted by Tim on July 14, 2014 08:34