PAK MOON

UBON RATCHATHANI : The Assembly of the Poor is threatening to stage a fresh round of rallies if a date is not set soon on the annual opening of the Pak Moon dam.

About 100 villagers from the Assembly of the Poor gather at Ubon Ratchathani provincial hall to call for the opening of the PakMoondam’s sluice gates. THAWEESAKBUTCHAN

About 100 members of the group gathered in front of the provincial hall yesterday to hand a letter to provincial governor Chuan Sirinanporn, in his capacity as chairman of the Moon river management commission, asking him to call a meeting to set a date for the dam opening.

The river management commission was appointed to plan the Moon's conservation and settle disputes between villagers and the dam's operator, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).

Officials have yet to meet to set a date for the opening of the dam's sluice gates, which is scheduled for some time in May.

A delay in opening the dam will block the migration of freshwater fish swimming upstream from the Mekong river to spawn in the Moon. This will reduce future fish numbers and harm local fishermen's livelihoods, the villagers say.

Social activists and villagers formed the Assembly of the Poor to protest against the original building of the dam in 1991.

They have since cited studies on the negative impact of the dam in calls for it to be opened permanently, but the government allows it to open for only four months a year, usually starting in May.