PM concerned over hazardous air quality in Northern Thailand

supawadee wangsri

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - Col. Athisit Chainuwat, Assistant Government Spokesman, disclosed that Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha expressed his concern over the worsening air quality in the North, especially in Chiang Mai which has been ranked among the world’s top five most-polluted cities for many consecutive days.

 

The Prime Minister has ordered the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Interior and the provincial administrations of Chiang Mai and other provinces in crisis to come up with the guidelines on how to solve the problems together.

 

The air pollution problem in the North of Thailand was mainly caused by forest fires which occur every year during the dry season. The burning of paddy stubble by farmers also played a part in worsening the air pollution levels.

 

The relevant officials are working hard to alleviate the situation and enforcing law in an attempt to keep the amount of air pollutants under control.

 

Chiang Mai is also implementing measures to control wildfires which have covered a large area of its forests. The city has deployed water-spraying operations around the moat and the Outer Ring road to mitigate the haze in downtown Chiang Mai. A safety zone is set up at the Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Center and in every district for people who seek shelter from the toxic air.

 

-- © Copyright nnt 2019-03-31

Such BS. This guy takes the cake as is apparently concerned about anything to even perhaps the welfare of a snake stuck in a drain if it makes him look good and sincere. Concerned is ludicrous as this is making international news. I would love to see him get all choked up about it, but literally not figurately by being here and sucking in a ton of it in his lungs. There is no quality here in Air quality. 

 

14 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

working hard to alleviate the situation and enforcing law

working hard - but enforcing? and why not before the pollution bomb blasted - as expected

14 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

mainly caused by forest fires which occur every year during the dry season

caused by reckless and greedy people

Edited March 31, 20197 yr by sweatalot

If he want to make a positive plus mark before hopefully being ejected from his self appointed PM position, then I suggest he go after all the people connected in the distribution and sales of mushrooms. These majority of fires are in the forests and tree areas, not the rice fields! Get a clue!

16 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

officials are working hard to alleviate the situation and enforcing law

????????????????????????????

What a great way to start the day. I haven't laughed this much in years!! 

well, of course they will just pretend to do something until the problem goes away within the next month or so

then problem fixed.

Bet he can't sleep at night worrying about it.

it would be nice if someone in government could put out the actual fire and not just the media ones

 

 

Edited March 31, 20197 yr by GeorgeCross

Wrong date, April 1 is tomorrow not today ????????

1 hour ago, kekalot said:

well, of course they will just pretend to do something until the problem goes away within the next month or so

then problem fixed.

as it's been going on for many decades, it must have come to his notice at some time in his unproductive life. 

Problem solved, move along. Or do you need some finger pointing 'n wiggling and a punch?

Is there a reason the Army cannot be used for firefighting, prevention and enforcement?  I have seen them active in other "disasters" such as floods. Please, this is a serious question perhaps regarding the legalities.  I'm not trying to start a string of posts bad mouthing the Thai Army.  

Who is this PM with concern ????

31 minutes ago, silverhawk_usa said:

Is there a reason the Army cannot be used for firefighting, prevention and enforcement?  I have seen them active in other "disasters" such as floods. Please, this is a serious question perhaps regarding the legalities.  I'm not trying to start a string of posts bad mouthing the Thai Army.  

I think it's simply just not beneficial to certain people to actually do something concrete and enforce things regarding the root cause of the abysmal air quality. However, the army has been participating in spraying water to remediate the issue; which obviously does diddly-squat to clear the air, but does give a lot of photo-ops that can be used to feed the media in conjunction with laws and regulations that don't pose a real threat to anyone involved due to the fact that nobody will enforce them.

 

If any legalities were involved (and I'm not claiming to know there aren't any), Mr. Almighty does have the power of the Section 44 to circumvent any legality at his will, should he really want to do so.

Edited March 31, 20197 yr by Grossman

1 hour ago, kekalot said:

well, of course they will just pretend to do something until the problem goes away within the next month or so

then problem fixed.

Yes, of course.  As will everyone else.

In a month all these dirty air threads will be dead, until next year.

Sing a song or just pray for the 'bad' smog to go away you muppet

On the night of March 30 there were 131 fire hotspots in CM province. That is equivalent to 4000 fire hotspots across the month of March. The authorities managed to prosecute 23, yes twenty three, forest fire setters & apparently no farmers who they openly admit are burning stubble during this total ban on burning! If this was Japan the governor and his ragtag band of administrators would fall on their swords in shame, but here they just beg for more face masks to hand out and feel good about prosecuting half a percent of those caught causing this pollution nightmare.

 

And we are apparently going to endure this for another month. 

 

5 minutes ago, brommers said:

And we are apparently going to endure this for another month.

How about a few decades?

Thai version of "thoughts and prayers"!

2 hours ago, sweatalot said:

working hard - but enforcing? and why not before the pollution bomb blasted - as expected

caused by reckless and greedy people

Who'll grow crops on that burned spot which you'll be buying/eating next year.

1 hour ago, sammieuk1 said:

Who is this PM with concern ????

Chiang Mai is the home of the Shins. No help going to go there!

The burning started in February,it's just about April ,and he's concerned NOW !

too little ,too late,must be nothing left to burn now,next year who is ever in

charge needs to be proactive,not trying to put fires out after they have started,

they know next year its going to happen,start planning now.....maybe too much to ask.

regards worgeordie

Bla blablablaa blah bla Blaa.
Blaablabla, blablaablaa bla bla!

 

Glad we here in the north are in the PMs thoughts & prayers... 

Edited March 31, 20197 yr by sfokevin

I think this is the time in the situation comedy when the CANNED LAUGHTER  erupts....

3 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

If he want to make a positive plus mark before hopefully being ejected from his self appointed PM position, then I suggest he go after all the people connected in the distribution and sales of mushrooms. These majority of fires are in the forests and tree areas, not the rice fields! Get a clue!

too busy rounding up all those overstayers

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The relevant officials are working hard to alleviate the situation and enforcing law in an attempt to keep the amount of air pollutants under control.

Indeed, they're sprinkling water in the center of CM.

This PM always only express his concerns like a "papa" for the thai people but he enforced nothing just not to step on anything that would have to be tracked down! Could cause problems to so called influental people and he would never stop them (he is one of them)

This evening should be below 200 again; sky is already a better colour than this "white" before. Yesterday was the same.

Looking forward to go out with a mask, have been in my room since Thursday evening ????

Praying for better air next week since I need to go to the immigration, which is why I stayed here.

We are all complaining on a high level here. Because I think all of those who write and who are here sit in their air purified room all day and wear a good mask. I feel sorry for those working outside day after day. They do not have a proper mask, nor do they have money for a purifier let alone could they pay for the electric to run aircon all day.

Next year I will go out again for 3 months as last year. Gets a bit depressing to sit in a room cooped up all day like a chicken.

Thai governments can employ satellites, drones, and human intelligence to pinpoint forest fires and crop burning, and subsequently identify the violators. Whacking them with hefty fines and sticking them in the can for a few weeks or months and pyromania would soon become a lot less popular activity. Where is the logic in jailing bar and restaurant owners for serving booze on alcohol-free days while irresponsible farmers can, with impunity, damage the health of millions of people, no doubt causing the deaths of many, and costing the tourist industry many millions of dollars. This pollution was all preventable. Let us hope that the new crop of politicians are a lot brighter than the present ones.