Phitsanulok governor orders probe into burning of rice

[Lite Beer]

RICE
Phitsanulok governor orders probe into burning of rice
The Sunday Nation

PHITSANULOK: -- The governor of Phitsanulok has ordered an investigation into the burning of a large number of sacks of rice in the province yesterday.

A large but unspecified number of sacks of rice were discovered, mostly burnt although some of were not fully destroyed. They revealed the green print initials of the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF) and were marked as off-season rice.

The burnt rice sacks were discovered by the roadside on Asia Highway Number 11, parallel to an irrigation canal in Wat Bot district of the province. Printed papers stating "fifth set" of off-season rice for 2008 of the pledging scheme for the year with details describing it as 5 per cent broken rice received between October 14-16, 2008, a total of 19,950 sacks, were also found.

Many of the burnt and unburnt rice have now caused sanitary pollution for nearby villagers.

Mee Tangnoi, 63, a farmer with six rai of land next to the burnt sacks of rice, said he saw workers unloading the sacks of rice since July and a tractor was deployed to pave the rice. He said he wasn't paying much attention because the trucks belonged to a rice storage firm, which owns the land next to his farm. However, after heavy rains last week the rice had rotted and polluted, foul-smelling water began seeping into his field.

Phitsanulok Governor Preecha Ruangchan said he has instructed related agencies, particularly the MOF, to visit the site and investigate the origin of the rice. Officials have also been instructed to coordinate with Kaset Paisarnboonkit Co, which owns the land, to find out if there was any corruption involved with the incident.

Sources said the rice was destroyed because it was spoiled during the floods and there was nothing irregular about it.

In a related development, Democrat Party Phitsanulok MP Warong Dechgitvigrom on Facebook called on the Commerce Ministry to clarify the matter.

"Don't mistake the picture for a land fill but it happened to be 5 per cent [broken grain] rice from Sukhothai and Phitsanulok… The point to ponder is why it was brought to be burnt there because even bad or rotten rice still has value, say, for making alcohol, fertiliser, animal feed or starch… Let us try to think about it," the MP wrote.

-- The Nation 2013-09-15

[jaidam]

We were all wondering what really happened to the "missing" 8 million tons that disappeared a week or so ago when the govt declared they only had 10 million tons left (from the acknowledged mountain of 18 million tons). That Nutthawut is doing a fantastic job as commerce minister, bravo.

[arthurboy]

'Officials have also been instructed to coordinate with Kaset Paisarnboonkit Co, which owns the land, to find out if there was any corruption involved with the incident.'

if the officials give me a call, I can save them the bother - and the cost - of setting up a committee to answer the question in hand.

[dcutman]

I sure this activity is pretty common now days. Just the tip of the "riceburg"..

[notmyself]

Burning rice has got to be a new low.

[MaiChai]

Ricegate? Thailands Watergate? The squandering of zillions of baht of tax payers money on a bungled attempt to control the world price of rice?

You would think it could be converted into animal feed?

Edited September 15, 2013 by MaiChai

[NongKhaiKid]

" Sources say this is not irregular " and of course no hint who these sources may be.

When I hear coments like this my natural cynicism and acute feeling of suspicion goes into overdrive as very little in Thailand is ' Regular ".

just how genuine is the Provincial Governor's desire to get to the truth of this or is it simply an arse covering exercise ?

[tominbkk]

Possibly the rice was infested, and they had no choice. But any secret burning of that much rice needs to be investigated. Really sad.

[lemonjelly]

the rice mill's been claiming subsidy for those sacks every year since 2008 possibly?

[moe666]

Why is it sad, killing people is sad, burning rice is what you do to old rice. This stuff dates back to 2008 that's 5 years not eating that stuff.

[tomross46]

Could this be part of the rice assets that were on the books for 5 years, and was flooded in 2011, which had outstanding bank loans. There for being an asset with a declared book value, even though the rice was worthless and had no value, it had to be disposed of. Then it would be written off during an extended period of time as inventory adjustments. This is known as CREATIVE ACCOUNTING.

[inquisitive]

Why is it sad, killing people is sad, burning rice is what you do to old rice. This stuff dates back to 2008 that's 5 years not eating that stuff.

You are right that things need to kept in proportion. This is only about money and not murder (for the moment let's ignore how many people could be kept alive by this food or what the money from selling this rice to a brewer, fertilizer maker, livestock producer, starch-maker, or some other interested party could buy. How much medicine could be given to those in need?) The fact is that there are things in this world that are sad even though no one gets shot in the head.

I'm not an expert, but the minister claimed that even rice that is 8 years old has value. He even gave some examples even though it was not a complete list. So the question is why would someone simply burn money - since that is exactly what was done?

[Krataiboy]

Just wait till they start burning the rubber. . .

[Thait Spot]

Old rice could be sold as new rice.....

The bags might have been a liability if an inspection was due somewhere.....

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[TPI]

Why on earth would anybody think that this was unusual? Shonky and shady practice is the commercial "stock in trade" here!

[rametindallas]

Possibly the rice was infested, and they had no choice. But any secret burning of that much rice needs to be investigated. Really sad.

"Don't mistake the picture for a land fill but it happened to be 5 per cent [broken grain] rice from Sukhothai and Phitsanulok… The point to ponder is why it was brought to be burnt there because even bad or rotten rice still has value, say, for making alcohol, fertiliser, animal feed or starch… Let us try to think about it," the MP wrote.

[rametindallas]

Why is it sad, killing people is sad, burning rice is what you do to old rice. This stuff dates back to 2008 that's 5 years not eating that stuff.

You are right that things need to kept in proportion. This is only about money and not murder (for the moment let's ignore how many people could be kept alive by this food or what the money from selling this rice to a brewer, fertilizer maker, livestock producer, starch-maker, or some other interested party could buy. How much medicine could be given to those in need?) The fact is that there are things in this world that are sad even though no one gets shot in the head.

I'm not an expert, but the minister claimed that even rice that is 8 years old has value. He even gave some examples even though it was not a complete list. So the question is why would someone simply burn money - since that is exactly what was done?

It the government sells the rice, for whatever use, at a price below what they paid for it, they will then have to declare the loss on the books and they will be exposed as inept and lose 'face'. The only reason I can think of for them to burn it is to make room for the new crop they will be buying. I'm afraid that if the true costs of this scheme/scam come to light that this government will all have to get Montenegrin passports and go live in Dubai to avoid prison.

[BangkokHank]

Maybe they were trying to cook it - and they just left it cooking for too long?

[TomTao]

Perhaps the rice that was burnt was put in the books as being sold, but with no actual buyer the the rice had to be made to disappear, if that was the case, fail.

[ratcatcher]

.Phitsanulok governor orders probe into burning of rice.

A now for the off topic post from years ago.

Edited September 15, 2013 by ratcatcher