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Published on October 20, 2007

Surapong Kongchantuk, director of the Karen Studies and Development Centre, went with Lawyers Council of Thailand officials and 151 affected Klity villagers, to the court yesterday afternoon to submit the civil suit against Lead Concentrate Company and its executives, for violating the National Environmental Quality Act 1992.

It calls for the company to be held responsible for health problems 151 victims of lead poisoning, the deaths of their livestock, plus contamination of their creek. The group is seeking Bt1.04 billion in compensation.

Villagers also asked for court fees to be waived for the lawsuit - a wish that the court granted for an interim period.

Following the villagers' complaint to the Pollution Control Department over lead contamination in Klity Creek in 1998, the nearby mine run by Lead Concentrate Co was shut down and the company fined Bt2,000.

Then in August last year, Kanchanaburi Provincial Court ordered the mining company to pay Bt4 million to eight Klity villagers who suffered from water poisoned by lead.

Last year, 22 Klity villagers also filed a lawsuit with the Central Administrative Court, requesting that the Pollution Control Department solve their problem according to its legal mandate. That case is ongoing.

The Nation

Kanchanaburi