Police from Daun Penh district and Srah Chak commune on Friday knocked down or ordered razed shelters four Boeng Kak lake families were attempting to build by the railway tracks in Village I, residents and a government official said yesterday.
A fifth family said police also knocked down an extension they were building to their existing home by the tracks.
“Five families were removed by police officers because they were building wooden homes 2 to 3 meters from the railway,” commune chief Chhay Thirith said. “We do not allow them to build houses near the railway because the company is developing [it].”
Toll Royal Railways, a joint Australian and Cambodian venture, signed an agreement with the government to manage its railway system last year.
Oeur Vibol, one of those whose houses were removed, said we was setting up a temporary shelter after authorities ordered him out of his Village I home last week when it was flooded with sand by Shukaku Inc, the private firm filling in the lake for a massive development project.
“I was just building a temporary shelter because I do not have anywhere to live,” said Mr Vibol, who claimed he had accepted the government’s and firm’s compensation offer but was still waiting for the $8,500.
Mr Vibol said the police gave him an extra day to break down his shelter himself because he had two young children to care for.
However, Srey Chan, another Village I resident, said he saw armed police-accompanied by deputy district governor Sok Penhvuth–take hammers to the other shelters on Friday.
“Deputy Daun Penh district governor Sok Penhvuth brought police officers and three trucks to remove the villagers’ homes near the railway that had started being building that evening,” he said.
Neither Mr Penhvuth nor district governor Sok Sambath could be reached yesterday. Deputy district governor Pa Socheatvong declined to speak with a reporter.
On Thursday, deputy commune chief In Saphorn said compensation for any property within 10 meters of the tracks was Toll’s responsibility. Toll CEO David Kerr denied the claim, saying relocations were not his firm’s responsibility.
