Thai PM discusses gas price hikes with concerned agencies

BANGKOK, January 9 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called a meeting with concerned agencies at Bangkok's Government House this morning to discuss the government's plan on price hikes of natural gas for vehicles (NGV) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) this year, both impacts and resolutions, as hundreds of operators of trucks, public buses and taxis were rallying in front of the Government House and the adjacent Royal Plaza, as well as at the Energy Complex Building to protest the government's policy. Those attending the meeting with the prime minister include Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong, Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan, Acting Permanent Secretary for Transport Silpachai Jarukasemrattana, Land Transport Department Director-General Somchai Siriwattanachok and President of PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) Pairin Choochotithavorn. Premier Yingluck later visited the Ministry of Tranport headquarters without giving any interview with waiting journalists, but Deputy premier Kittirat then told the journalists that the government will likely go ahead with the plan, calling on the protesters to resort to negotiations with the administration through their representatives, rather than the mass rallying, which were blocking roads and causing traffic snarls in areas surrounding the Government House and the Energy Complex Building on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road. The affected operators of trucks, public buses and cabs have demanded that the government defer for at least one year its plan on retail price hikes of NGV and LPG by 6 baht and 4.80 baht this year or 17 per cent and 42 per cent, gradually monthly, to 14.50 baht and 16.30 baht per kilogram respectively from 8.50 baht and 11.50 baht per kilogram currently, beginning from January 16, 2012 as approved by the Thai Cabinet on September 30, 2011. The rallying operators threatened to raise their protest levels, covering pressuring the ousting of the energy minister, if their demand was not heeded by the government. (TNA)