Around 300 residents of tambon Khok Si of Khon Kaen’s Muang district have planted rice and bananas in the burgeoning potholes of their main road in a symbolic protest against the government’s failure to repair it.
Adult residents, students and teachers in Ban Khok Pae gathered on the road and planted fragrant and glutinous rice, banana trees and some hyacinth in the numerous holes in the road's surface.
They said their complaints to the Damrongdhama centre, set up by the junta government to solve people’s problems, had drawn no response.
Udom Molee, headman of Ban Khok Pae of tambon Khok Si, said the six-kilometre road was built six years ago. It is the main commuting route for four villages. The most damaged section was about two kilometres long, between Nong Lai school and Ban Khok Pae, where there were rmore than 50 potholes.
He said the Khon Kaen Provincial Administration Orgnisation (PAO) had repaired the road early this year, but the surface started breaking up again after only four days. People in the area have no choice but to continue risking an accident by using the rough road.
They had submitted a requests for repairs to the Khok Si Tambon Administration Organisation and the Khon Kaen PAO, and also asked the province’s Damrongdhama Centre to convey word of their hardship to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
“This is our main road, used by several thousand people. Every day 300-400 vehicles travel this route, as it links to Sam Soong district and Maha Sarakham’s Chiang Yuen district. No government agencies pay any attention to the maintenance of the road,” he said.
Mr Udom said the earlier maintenance was done without following any proper standard - just some road grading and then a thin layer of asphalt, which quickly disappeared.
In Ban Khok Pae alone, 1,109 villagers use this potholed road, which had dmaged to a large number of vehicles.
The villagers hope the government will quickly allocate a budget to build a concrete road and bring relief to residents of the four villages.