Farmers in flood-prone Bang Rakam district of Phitsanulok have demanded fairer compensation if their land is to be used to retain floodwater.
Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, left, briefs Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra during her inspection of Bung Boraphet in Nakhon Sawan yesterday. The swamp is one of the government’s many flood prevention projects aimed at creating large water retention areas. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
Anchalee Porsongkhram, a Bang Rakam villager, said she would cooperate with the water retention policy only if the government pays out a reasonable amount of compensation.
The government is gearing up to dredge three lakes and canals in the district to increase their capacity to retain overflow from the Yom River.
Mrs Anchalee said her village was under floodwater for three months last year and that it was the worst flooding she'd seen since 1995.
She complained that the government had not informed villagers in advance of its plan to turn vast rice fields in Bang Rakam district into weirs.
Lamjuan Khamthabthim, a 67-year-old local, said the government had to tell villagers what they can do for a living if their lands are flooded.
As a compensatory measure, the government should also pay off personal debts accumulated when sowing rice fields that will be ravaged by the water retention project.
She said her family depends solely on rice cultivation and grows two crops a year on its 16-rai land plot.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is on an upcountry tour to inspect flood prevention projects. She was in the North yesterday to follow up on progress of water retention projects in Bang Rakam.
Authorities expect to finish dredging local canals in July but dredging three swamps in Bung Takreng, Bung Khiraeng and Bung Raman will take a year.
The flood prevention plan will be implemented in 10 upstream northern provinces; Chiang Mai, Uttaradit, Chiang Rai, Sukhothai, Tak, Nan, Phrae, Lampang, Lamphun and Phayao.
Four main rivers flow from the North and merge to create the Chao Phraya River feeding rice-belt provinces in the Central Plains.
Apart from the dredging, reforestation and small dam projects are to be completed in the next three months.
Supoj Tovichakchaikul, secretary to the Strategic Formulation Committee on Water Resources Management, said both immediate and long-term flood prevention projects in the North would cost the state 49.2 billion baht.
It includes the establishment of a water information centre that will issue flood warnings.
Wichian Chavalit, secretary-general of the strategic committee, said water retention areas were also necessary in midstream provinces like Uthai Thani, Phichit, Kamphaeng Phet, Chai Nat and Nakhon Sawan.
He noted some areas had to accept water and that dykes could not be built to protect all areas. Without the weirs, the level of the Chao Phraya River would be too high and overflow its banks.