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Published on September 12, 2007

Some 400 residents from Uttaradit and Phitsanulok blocked a major route in Phichai district for more than five hours.

The blockade was a show of support for farmer Khui Thadjanhom, 55, who has endured a web of red-tape and jurisdictional squabbling because the

new provincial boundary runs through the centre of his 80-rai paddy field.

Khui and his supporters' anger over the unresolved boundary dispute resulted in heavy traffic congestion in the entire lower North and upper Central regions - up until late afternoon.

Khui said his complaints, submitted to authorities and both governors in Uttaradit and Phitsanulok provinces, had fallen on deaf ears over the past three years after the amended boundary took effect.

He said subsequent confusion and red-tape stemming from the two-province jurisdictional argument over his farmland blocked all related paperwork from being issued.

He couldn't even sell the land because the dispute stopped him obtaining legal ownership documents.

After advice from two local politicians, the farmer gained support from more than 400 people from Phichai district in Uttaradit and Phrome Phiram district in Phitsanulok to stage yesterday's protest.

Most of the protesters - who own more than a total of 20,000 rai between them - demanded that the boundary be redrawn or

that it be brought back to its

previous position, because

they prefer to be residents of Uttaradit, not Phitsanulok.

The protesters started off by parking their tractors between the 54-55 km markers on Route 11, which links the two provinces, at around 11am.

In barely an hour, the blockade had created traffic mayhem in Nan, Phrae, Phayao and Chiang Rai as Route 11 is the main road linking the Central, North and parts of the Northeast.

Jeeraphong Paenphet and Surachet Phoonphichai, speaking on behalf of Khui, submitted a five-point demand to police and governors of both provinces.

They want the Interior Ministry regulation legitimising the new boundary to be revoked.

Two district chiefs, two police chiefs and a military civil affairs chief spent two hours trying to negotiate with the group.

However, by 4.30pm both sides reached an initial agreement - that a coordinating body be set up to settle the problem.

The Nation