By Thai Newsroom Reporters
NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT Minister Varawut Silpa-archa today (Nov. 10) came under fire for allegedly failing to protect villagers from being killed or injured by wild elephants.
The House Extraordinary Committee for Wild Elephants took the natural resources & environment minister to task at parliament in the face of last week’s reported deaths of three villagers due to wild elephant attacks in the neighbourhood of their villages and plantations adjacent to forest areas of the lower northeastern and western regions of the country, among others.
Eleven villagers have been reportedly killed by wild elephants in the provinces so far this year, according to the House panel.
House Extraordinary Committee chair Sorawut Nuangchamnong called on Varawut to resign if he could not effectively manage to protect villagers from being fatally attacked by wild elephants.
Other House committee members charged that Varawut has never done enough to maintain safety measures for the villagers living or farming near forest areas.
Fences and ditches already built in forest areas apparently could not stop wild elephants from encroaching upon farmland or fruit orchards or villages, they said.
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Top: An elephant that killed a villager earlier this year. Photo: Amarin TV
Home Page: Natural Resources & Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa. Photo: Matichon
