Thai Energy Ministry's Coupon Books 'Will Breed Corruption'

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Coupon books 'will breed corruption'

The Nation

The Energy Ministry's project to give coupons worth Bt2,000 in value of electrical appliances for flood affected people has possessd many irregularities, which are possibly stemming from corruption, Democrat Party spokesman Chawanont Intharakomalsut alleged yesterday.

He said the scheme, aimed to release a million coupons throughout this year, was like the Energy Ministry printing banknotes and giving them away freely, or writing blank cheques for someone to give them away to the vendors as many as they would like, and cash them with the ministry.

Chawanont was responding to frequent protests by flood victims in and around Bangkok, who said the outlets did not receive their coupons, or said the coupouns would be valid only they purchases their goods for up to Bt10,000. He also questioned why the coupon booklet now numbered 746,320, while Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said publicly only 20 per cent of the booklets had been distributed.

"Or the ministry is releasing the booklets in reverse running number [from the millionth]," he added.

He accused the minitry of printing the coupons freely and of reimbursing them from the ministry, at the ceiling of Bt2 billion according to the 1 million couple stated publicly. He said there were no spending conditions printed on the coupon with token equivalent to Bt100. "Those given the coupons understand that they can buy anything they want, not the particular items as a discount, as advertised by Pichai," he added.

Chawanont said many recipients of the coupons were those eligible to or had received the blanket Bt5,000 government grant, while there were a few vendors selected to benefit from the scheme. "To me about all this, I perceived it as a corruptionprone project," he added.

A group of residents living in a housing project in Nonthaburi yesterday blocked a major road demanding immediate payment of the Bt5,000 grant. The blockade prompted a traffic congestion covering a 10km stretch and a nearly fight between the protestors and angry motorists. The group dispersed after a negotiation and vowed to rally again on Wednesday if there was no answer on when the payment was made.

More than half of respondents in an Abac Poll opinion survey, conducted between December 15 and January 7 on 1,738 people living in nine flooded provinces including Bangkok, said they thought the Bt5,000 grant was not enough 59.5 per cent said it must be much more than Bt5,000 but did not say how much, while 40.5 per cent said Bt5,000 was much enough.

Asked what sources of money they would spend on restoration of their homes, 84.2 per cent said from their own savings, 40.8 per cent from loan sharks and 16.4 per cent from legitimate loans.

A companion survey found that the average amount of repair and maintenance cost for their homes was Bt37,022, and repairs for appliances was Bt20,745, and repairs for tapwater and telephone lines at Bt7,096.

The repairs of flooddamaged vehicles is Bt22,603 in average, and expenses for treatments to floodcause illnesses or injuries is Bt5,611.

Meanwhile, Rangsit University is running a workshop on how to prevent flooding in the Bangkok’s north. The session welcomed residents from many flooded housing estates includinb heavilyinundated Muang Ek to brainstorm ideas from them. Yesterday’s session concluded that they would send a candidate to a coming contest of Khlong 6 municipality election, to be selected from three shortlisted yesterday.

The next session next weekend will discuss other solutions and finalise over the lone candidate.

-- The Nation 2012-01-09

[CMFarang]

Great Deal.

The whole family here got a Book, one for every house, and most have 2 houses..

They were Not hit by floods or anything , just a free 2,000 Baht for showing up and standing in line..

So make sure your family knows, load up the Benz and head down and get Books for the whole family..

[sparebox2]

• These are not free money. They are like supermarket coupon. Eg, no purchase, no discount.
  

[givenall]

So what is changed. Thailand the land of faviors

[Moruya]

There have already been cases alleged on here of people "selling" their 2,000B voupons to shops for 700B