Thai PM orders public participation in water management

BANGKOK, October 7 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has ordered the Royal Irrigation Department to work out water management plans in flood-prone areas with local people's participation to sustain the plans. Royal Irrigation Department Deputy Director-General Thongplew Kongchan told journalists of the prime minister's instruction on October 6, saying that the water management plans include reserving some local areas to be small and medium-scaled water retention zones with people in the targeted areas agreeing on supporting and sustaining the plans. Thongplew revealed the Thai premier also suggested during his trip to inspect flooded areas in the central Ayutthaya and Chai Nat Provinces earlier this week that, if available, water be released through main channels to the sea first, while releasing water to local farmlands as temporary retention areas should be done after the harvest period. According to the senior official, the prime minister also suggested higher cash compensations than the standard disaster-assistance level to local farmers whose rice fields are inevitably used as water retention areas through a rental fee for a certain period of time. Meanwhile, higher floodwater was reported in riverside and low-lying areas in Thailand's central Ayutthaya Province due to more water release from upstream dams following continual downpours recently. (TNA)