Village representatives filed a lawsuit against private companies, including the Director-General of the Department of Fisheries and the Minister of Agriculture, for allowing the outbreak of the black-chinned tilapia, and demanded over 2.4 billion baht in damages.
Mr. Panya Tokthong, along with more than 10 villagers affected by the outbreak of the black-chinned tilapia, as representatives of the aquaculture and local fisheries groups in Amphoe Amphawa, Amphoe Bang Khonthi, and Amphoe Mueang, Samut Songkhram Province, totaling more than 1,400 people, traveled to the Bangkok South Civil Court with lawyers from the Lawyers Council to file a lawsuit against Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) and its 9 executives in an environmental case.
The legal process will be a class action lawsuit / claim for compensation for loss of income from the aquaculture and local fisheries occupations and from the violation of the right to use natural resources, along with a request to force CPF to restore the l
ost natural resources to their original condition at the company’s expense, according to the principle of “Polluter Pays”.
The amount of compensation that the fisheries group is demanding is divided into 2 groups:
1) The aquaculture fisheries group is demanding compensation for loss of income based on the amount of the fisheries area at a rate of 10,000 baht per rai per year for 7 years (2017-2024) and compensation for the violation of the right to use resources at 50,000 baht per case. The aquaculture fisheries group has more than 1,000 members and a combined aquaculture area of ??more than 27,000 rai. The compensation demanded is more than 1,982,000,000 baht.
2) Local fishing groups claim for damages for lost income at the rate of 500 baht per day (182,500 baht per year) for 7 years (2017-2024) and for damages for the violation of the right to use resources at the rate of 50,000 baht per case. The local fishing groups have more than 380 members and the compensation claimed is more than 19,000,000 baht.
The total compensation that the aquaculture and local fisheries groups in Samut Songkhram Province have claimed is more than 2,486,450,000 baht.
In addition to filing a civil lawsuit to claim compensation, this morning, representatives from the Lawyers Council, as authorized representatives of 54 fishermen and local fishermen in Samut Songkhram Province, filed a lawsuit against 18 government agencies and officials at the Central Administrative Court for negligence in their duties, including: 1. Department of Fisheries 2. Director-General of the Department of Fisheries 3. National Fisheries Policy Committee 4. Institutional Committee on Safety and Biodiversity of the Department of Fisheries 5. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives 6. Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives 7. Department of Marine and Coastal Resources 8. Director-General of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources 9. Committee on Policy and Planning for Marine and Coastal Resources Management 10. Ministry of Natural Resources and En
vironment 11. Minister of Natural Resources and Environment 12. National Environment Board 13. National Public Prevention and Mitigation Board 14. Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation 15. Director-General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation 16. Ministry of Interior 17. Minister of Interior 18. Ministry of Finance
The 54 plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court have called on the defendants, which are state agencies, to urgently declare the area a disaster area in order to provide emergency funds to the plaintiffs within the time specified by the court. In addition, the defendants must follow up on the money from Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) or the person who caused the impact to compensate the state for the damages according to the value of the damages.
Source: Thai News Agency