Caretaker government pledges to pay farmers under rice-pledging scheme

BANGKOK, January 20 (TNA) - The caretaker government has promised to pay more than 100 billion baht it owes to Thai farmers who have sold their grains to the government-sponsored rice-pledging scheme. Caretaker Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach made the pledge on Monday, noting that the caretaker government has already paid about 680 billion baht to farmers joining the scheme since the programme was launched more than two years ago. Yanyong explained that the caretaker government has no intention to default the rest of more than 100 billion baht, but the caretaker administration is consulting the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) whether the payment can be legally made pending the new general election, set to be held on February 2, 2014. Earlier, the EC warned the caretaker government it would violate the election law by making the payment, as it could be interpreted as canvassing for votes for the upcoming general election. The caretaker deputy commerce minister's remarks followed a move by farmers in Phichit Province in the Lower Thai North to block streets leading to the provincial government complex and then locked the gates of the provincial government complex on Monday morning to bar local officials from entering the building for work to demand the caretaker government to speed up paying them for rice they have sold under the rice-pledging programme. The Phichit governor, thus, asked local officials to work outside the provincial government complex in order to facilitate people who sought their assistance or services. The president of the Thai Farmers Support Association told reporters that farmers who have not yet received payment from the government also plan to file a lawsuit against the caretaker administration with the Administrative Court, as the affected farmers are now facing a heavy financial problem. Meanwhile, members of the labour union of the state-run Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and other staff, most dressed in black, gathered at the BAAC head office to oppose the caretaker government’s plan to use depository money of the public to pay farmers joining in its rice-pledging programme.(TNA)