The government is setting up a new central committee to help people dissatisfied with their provinces' efforts to solve problems.
Prime Minister's Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul talks to representatives of villagers affected by the Pak Moon dam in Ubon Ratchathani. The representatives yesterday met him at Government House to ask authorities to step up measures to alleviate their longstanding problems from the construction of the dam. Thiti Wannamontha
The idea, which had been earlier floated by the prime minister, was approved yesterday following the villagers' outspoken disappointment with the state's inability to ease the impact of the Pak Moon dam on their fishing livelihoods in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani.
The government has tried to have provincial officials and villagers jointly resolve such issues, but "it turns out the province and villagers are at odds", said Prime Minister's Office Minister Panadda Diskul.
He was speaking after chairing a meeting with representatives of the People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move), which raised a range of villagers' troubles for discussion.
Among them was the long-running conflict over the Pak Moon dam, in which villagers did not approve of the provincial committee appointed by the Ubon Ratchathani governor to look into their concerns.
ML Panadda said the PM's Office of the Permanent Secretary needs to set up a new central committee to work with provinces.
However, the meeting yesterday could not resolve whether Ubon Ratchathani should also appoint a new provincial committee, said P-Move adviser Prayong Doklamyai.
Among the issues the provincial committee is responsible for is whether the dam's sluice gates should stay open at fishermen's request to allow freshwater fish from the Mekong River to spawn.
The fishermen have complained the dam, which sits on the Moon River, a tributary of the Mekong, blocks fish movement and depletes the Moon river populations.
ML Panadda said the government wants provinces to act on its behalf to help villagers.
Their failures, he said, lead disgruntled villagers to lodge complaints directly with the government in Bangkok.
A centre has been set up in each province to receive villagers' complaints, but people are still coming to Bangkok "in unusually high numbers", ML Panadda said, raising concerns about the effectiveness of provincial support.