The red shirts yesterday gave the Royal Forest Department seven days to take legal action against Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont and confiscate his plot of land in a forest reserve.
About 100 red shirts rallied at the department before filing a petition demanding a speedy resolution on ex-premier Surayud's vacation home, which is located inside the forest reserve of Khao Yai Thiang in Nakhon Ratchasima.
In the petition, the red shirts set a seven-day deadline for the department to complete the job. They also asked for a new survey of Surayud's plot to ensure there was no more encroachment than the 21 rai declared.
Reacting to the petition, the department's director-general, Somchai Piensataporn, said his agency was waiting for a case report to be forwarded by public prosecutors. Prosecutors earlier had decided not to pursue a case against Surayud, arguing that he had held the land honestly with no intention of encroaching into the forest reserve. Somchai said that after receiving the report, the department would take action within seven days.
The resolution on the Khao Yai Thiang controversy will hinge on the case report. It has already been deemed unnecessary to conduct an additional inquiry, including the summoning of Surayud to give a statement, he added.
Leaders of the red shirts entered the department's compound and talked to Somchai about the matter.
Arisman Pongruangrong, one of the red shirts' leaders, warned the director-general that he would "be in trouble" when the red shirts came back after seven days if their demand was not met.
In an aggressive voice, Arisman told Somchai to set up a fact-finding committee within 48 hours to look into the matter and come up with a decision within seven days.
"You must give me the promise," Arisman said to the director-general, who nodded with a tense expression. Somchai said that as a bureaucrat, he would have to deal with the matter in line with the law and in a straightforward manner.
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