Kalasin Province To Request 720 Million Baht

[Jai Dee]

KALASIN WILL REQUEST A GOVERNMENT ALLOCATION OF 72O MILLION BAHT TO SOLVE DROUGHT AND FLOOD

Officials in KALASIN Province will ask for a budget of more than 720 million baht to prevent natural disasters in the province when the Cabinet holds their weekly meeting there tomorrow (October 4th).

KALASIN’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry official SURAPONG SI-AKSORN says about 60 percent of the provincial areas are agricultural plantations. However, farmers are unable to conduct seasonal cultivation smoothly due to interrupting droughts and flood.

According to him, five districts of the province covering 44,000 acres are currently under water, one-third of which are facing repeated floods. He said the requested budget will be spent on improving shallow water resources, building reservoirs to absorb floodwater and setting up weirs as well as water drainage systems. The proposal is expected to contribute to a systematic water management in the basin.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 3 ตุลาคม 2548

[Jai Dee]

DEPUTY PM SUWAT LIPTAPANLOP TO BUILD RESERVOIRS TO PREVENT MORE FLOODING IN THE NORTHEAST

Deputy Prime Minister SUWAT LIPTAPANLOP (สุวัจน์ ลิปตพัลลภ) has expressed concern about serious flooding in the districts of PAI (ปาย) and PANGMAPA (ปางมะผ้า) in the Northeast province of Kalasin (กาฬสินธุ์ ).

The raining season has caused damage to local people in the eight provinces, especially in the Northern and North-Eastern part of Thailand. Mr. SUWAT (สุวัจน์) said that the government will provide immediate assistance to the flood stricken areas. Some of the measures will include flood prevention schemes. As the Cabinet meeting is scheduled to take place at KALASIN Province, government officials will also examine the mudslide situation in the province as well.

The flood prevention scheme which will be discussed on October the 10th will include the construction of the water ventilation system. The system will drain excess water into the reservoirs. At the same time, officials will formulate a water management plan for PING River. They will also construct a large reservoir to support the floodwater in the future. The government will also discuss elevating roads to provide convenience for vehicles during the flooding period.

Deputy Prime Minister SUWAT mentioned that the Interior Ministry and related government agencies will expedite the budgeting plan in order to cater to the immediate flooding problems in the Northeastern part of Thailand. Solutions to the flooding problems will be resolved over the next few months.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 3 ตุลาคม 2548

[chownah]

Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees. Plant trees.....and then plant some more.

[Jai Dee]

LOCALS IN HUAY MEK DISTRICT ASKS THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP SOLVE SHORTAGE OF WATER FOR CONSUMPTION

Deputy Education Minister RUNG KAEWDAENG (รุ่ง แก้วแดง) visited HUAY MEK (ห้วยเมก) District of KALASIN (กาฬสินธุ์) Province to assess the situation of the water shortage in the province. Since the mobile cabinet meeting will be held at Kalasin Province tomorrow, Mr RUNG took the opportunity to visit and gather information from the local people at HUAY MEK.

Mr RUNG said that he understood the water shortage problem faced by the people in KALASIN and will raise the subject in the cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 3 ตุลาคม 2548

[Jai Dee]

THE CABINET WILL CONSIDER PUBLIC BENEFITS IN REGARDS TO VARIOUS PROJECTS IN KALASIN

The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. SURIYA JUNGRUNGREANGKIT (สุริยะ จึงรุ่งเรืองกิจ), has indicated that the government will take the benefits for the general public into account, prior to the budget approvals for various construction projects in KALASIN (กาฬสินธุ์) Province.

Mr. SURIYA said the Cabinet will take note of the public concerns in KALASIN, and seek measures to solve them. Some of the main concerns include the irrigation system, the transportation infrastructure, the poverty issue and the flooding crisis. Thus, the Cabinet members will have to prioritise the problems before they will approve the appropriate budget for each project. Therefore, the project presenters will have to explain them clearly and justify that the investments will be worthwhile.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that most of the locals in KALASIN are farmers, and therefore, the provincial agricultural sector will have to be pushed forward. He said the production output will have to be emphasised, while certain agricultural products such as cassavas will have to be processed into fuel products.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 4 ตุลาคม 2548

[Jai Dee]

THE DEPUTY INTERIOR MINISTER TO PAY ATTENTION TO KALASIN'S PROBLEMS

The Deputy Interior Minister KOSIN KIETTONG (โกสินทร์ เกียรติทอง), has already met with the village headmen of TAAKANTO (ท่าคันโท) district to understand this tiny district of Kalasin's desperate needs of a water reservoir, increase of wages and an extension of government officials' posts.

At 10 a.m. this morning, TAKANTO VITTAYAKARN SCHOOL (ท่าคันโทวิทยาคาร), at TAKANTO district (ท่าคันโท) of KALASIN (กาฬสินธุ์) Province, Mr. KOSIN KIETTONG (โกสินทร์ เกียรติทอง), Deputy Interior Minister held a meeting village headmen where the participants requested the government to build water reservoirs so that water can be used during severe drought. They also called for an increase in wages and an extension of the period of government postings so that they could work on long-term projects.

Mr. KOSIN (โกสินทร์) said that the Department of Local Administration has taken these matters into consideration and may extend the period of 5 year posting to ten years. The conclusion will be finalized by the cabinet.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 4 ตุลาคม 2548

[plachon]

LOCALS IN HUAY MEK DISTRICT ASKS THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP SOLVE SHORTAGE OF WATER FOR CONSUMPTION

Deputy Education Minister RUNG KAEWDAENG (รุ่ง แก้วแดง) visited HUAY MEK (ห้วยเมก) District of KALASIN (กาฬสินธุ์) Province to assess the situation of the water shortage in the province. Since the mobile cabinet meeting will be held at Kalasin Province tomorrow, Mr RUNG took the opportunity to visit and gather information from the local people at HUAY MEK.

Mr RUNG said that he understood the water shortage problem faced by the people in KALASIN and will raise the subject in the cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 3 ตุลาคม 2548

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink" - Anybody else spot the beautiful irony contained in these posts by JaiDee? While large parts of Kalasin are reportedly underwater, residents are complaining that there's "no water for consumption".

And this is all despite having one of the largest reservoirs in Isaan - LamPao which flooded twice as much land as it irrigated - and three decades of massive govt. spending on improving water resources. And I mean MASSIVE. And yet after all this money has been spent, and still it floods each year and there's drought in the dry season, and still the same old solution of build more dams and reservoirs proposed by politicians for "the people".

Yet, the main reason that the land south of Lam Pao dam is flooding right now is because the dam is having to release vast amounts of stored water into an already swollen river, to relieve pressure on the dam itself. Hence, the dam and reservoir are exacerbating the problem, not solving it. Similarly there are lots of villages above the dam(like in Huay Mek), which never see a drop of water from the reservoir, as it's all used in the gravity fed d/stream areas where farmers get the water for free, yet many plots are still idle despite plenty of water available. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this situation is that water availability is not the main issue when a villager decides to farm or not. In fact, all over Isaan waterbodies can be found in the middle of dry season being left unused for irrigation, so why should this be?