A measure of justice at last

       After almost three decades of lonely struggle and much to the chagrin of her hostile neighbours, Grandma Hai Khanjanta has finally won compensation from the state for the damage rendered to her farmland in Ubon Ratchathani from a poorly thought out irrigation dam project.
       The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to award the 80-yearold woman - who in 2004 was named "the great fighter mum" by Mahidol University -1.2 million baht in compensation. Two other villagers affected by the project were also compensated.
       The promised 1.2 million baht is a very modest amount and cannot be regarded as fair, given the hardships from deprivation of a normal livelihood which Mrs Hai's family has had to endure throughout the past several years since her farmland was flooded.Even though the land was reclaimed following the dam's demolition on the orders of the Thaksin administration, it remains useless for cultivation. Still, Mrs Hai had the grace and decency to offer her heartfelt thanks to the Democrat-led government for paying attention to the plight of poor people like herself. She said she would not press for further demands.
       However, this "happy ending" story of Mrs Hai and her two neighbours represents just a fraction of many other similar cases of rural people being deprived of a livelihood, robbed of their traditional farmland or forced into hardship by so-called development projects which often were decided from the top down and implemented without prior consultation with the local communities.These include the villagers affected by the construction of the Rasi Salai dam in Si Sa Ket and the Pak Moon fishermen whose livelihood has been completely wrecked by the Pak Moon dam.
       Negligence on the part of state agencies and their disregard for the public's right to participate in the decision-making process in the management of natural resources by the state, have been blamed for many of the top-down development projects which were later proven to have been badly thought-out, falling short of their objectives or simply not worthy of the cost. For example, the Rasi Salai dam which was supposed to irrigate the dry northeastern farmland, has instead caused widespread salination of the soil, on top of some 30,000 rai of wetlands being wiped out during construction, not to mention the human suffering of hundreds who are still demanding justice.
       The case of Ms Usa Rotpongkasem, a victim of the Klong Toey chemical fire in 1991, is another glaring example of the lack of compassion from state agencies,in this particular case the Port Authority of Thailand,for the victims of its gross negligence and its lack of accountability. The former Ramkhamhaeng University student who is steadily losing her eyesight and is suffering from cancer as a result of her exposure to chemical posioning, had to take her case to the Civil Court to seek compensation from the PAT. It was through sheer tenacity and determination that she endured the lengthy legal hurdles and won the case, with the court faulting the PAT for gross negligence and ordering it to pay her about 4 million baht in compensation. The PAT wanted to appeal the verdict but dropped the idea only because of the personal intervention of then deputy transport minister Pracha Maleenont.
       The plight of Grandma Hai, Ms Usa and many other poor villagers could have been avoided or considerably mitigated, if only the state agencies involved had been more receptive to their views before deciding on projects which seriously disrupted their livelihoods.