Low income earners in Thailand to get "Hybrid 2 Chips"

BANGKOK, September 20 (TNA) - Low income earners in Bangkok and six other adjacent provinces will first get their "Hybrid 2 Chips", provided by the Thai government as a welfare benefit, in mid-October 2017. The Comptroller General's Department, under the Thai Ministry of Finance, issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that the distribution of the "Hybrid 2 Chips" firstly to a total of about 1.3 million legally-registered low income earners in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Samut Prakan, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon Provinces by the Thai government, through the Comptroller General's Department, will be started on October 17 simultaneously. The official statement said that the low income earners, who have registered with the government and passed an official screening system recently, can use the "Hybrid 2 Chips" as their single electronic welfare card (e-card) to get free goods and public transport services in order to ease their burden on the costs of living for the purchase of household products and transport services, covering the fares of public buses and electric trains. According to the statement, the official distribution of the single welfare card to the low-income earners is delayed from October 1, as more times are needed for getting all technical procedures of the Hybrid 2 Chips done based on the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning's standard. The official statement indicated that lists of household products and public transport services, as well as their maximum prices provided free of charges for each holder of the Hybrid 2 Chips will be recorded in each of the e-card. (TNA)