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dam-l LS: Thai Dam Protesters at Risk of Drowning
>From: "Friends of the People" <fopthai@asiaaccess.net.th>
>To: "PRASITTIPORN NOI KAN-ONSRI" <fopthai@asiaaccess.net.th>
>Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 18:34:35 +0700
>
>RASI SALAI DAM
>
>Protesters at risk from drowning
>Anchalee Kongrut
>Bangkok Post 10th Sept 1999
>
>The Department of Energy Development and Promotion has warned local
>protesters who have settled and built shacks in the middle reservoir
>of Rasi Salai Dam that they are at risk from drowning as the
>department is to start operating flood gates soon.
>
>Director-general Itthi Bijayendrayodhin told reporters yesterday
>that the department would close the flood gates of Rasi Salai Dam,
>built across the Moon river in Si Sa Ket, by the end of the rainy
>season for water conservation for agriculture in the dry season.
>
>This operation poses a risk to 500 villagers, protesting under the
>umbrella of the Forum of the Poor, who currently occupy the
>reservoir land.
>
>The group previously received compensation over displacement by the
>dam but are continuing their protest to help relatives in the Moon
>Basin Forum-another group of 600 villagers settled nearby, who are
>seeking compensation.
>
>"We will close the flood gates as planned. Any damage to protesters'
>properties will be dealt with through legal procedures," said Mr
>Itthi.
>
>Prasittiporn Kan-onsri, an adviser to the Forum of the Poor, said
>villagers would not be moved by the threat.
>
>"Whatever happens we will not move out from the reservoir. We will
>survive somehow," he said.
>
>The department has maintained that the forest and land along the
>river banks is public property.
>
>A study by a Khon Kaen University lecturer revealed villagers have
>been using the wetland forest along the Moon river for generations
>because the land is rich with sediment from seasonal flooding.
>
>An additional 315 million baht was earmarked to compensate villagers
>whose homes and land were affected by the dam.
>
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