A rice stockpile was found to have been damaged by fire at a warehouse in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat during a survey by inspectors yesterday.
Many rice sacks lie scattered during an inspection by authorities at a warehouse in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Thung Song district. The warehouse has caught fire three times – once in 2011 and twice in February and April this year. NUCHAREE RAKRUN
Orawan Khumsap, an inspector from the Prime Minister’s Office, led the 99th rice inspection team to examine a rice stockpile at the warehouse of Sinthongdee Parawood Co in tambon Thiwang, Thung Song district. It was the third district in the province to be surveyed by inspectors.
The warehouse stored 60,068 sacks of rice weighing 100kg each. The stockpile was found to have been scattered about and damaged by fire.
Deputy Kapang police chief Pachon Niamrin reported to Ms Orawan that the warehouse had caught fire three times on Mar 4, 2011, Feb 21, 2014 and April 5, 2014.
He said an initial probe found the blazes were caused by a chemical reaction between aluminium phosphide and humidity. A vast amount of rice was damaged by the fires, he said.
Ms Orawan said the inspection team will take samples of the damaged rice for examination. A report of the damaged stockpile will be sent to the central authority for further action.
The other warehouses in the province will be quickly examined, she added.
Meanwhile, another rice inspection team took a tour in Suphan Buri to examine stockpiles at the three warehouses of the “Ton Kaw Ton Nam” Storage company in tambon Wang-Namsap of Si Prachan district.
Two of them stored broken-milled rice and another kept 5% white rice.
The examination was led by Amnuay Chotsakul, an inspector of the Prime Minister’s Office, accompanied by army representatives and officials of the Department of Internal Trade, the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
Mr Amnuay said rice sacks will be counted to check whether they comply with the figures documented by the PWO.
Samples of stocked rice will be collected for further examination, he said. The collection will be carried out by army officers who had been trained for the task.
ML Panadda Diskul, acting permanent secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, said the checks found rice in the three warehouses was in order and the number of sacks corresponded with documentation.
The warehouses can serve as a role model for other stores nationwide, he said.
ML Panadda, who is also the chairman of the sub-committee inspecting the government’s rice stocks, said earlier that more than 100 teams would be deployed to inspect stocks pledged to the previous government at 1,800 warehouses nationwide. The inspection panels would compare the amount and quality of the rice against the figures given by the Commerce Ministry.
The unconfirmed amount of grain in the government stockpile is a core issue in the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s decision that former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was guilty of dereliction of duty as chairwoman of the National Rice Policy Committee.
ML Panadda said he had yet to conclude how much pledged rice had been lost, pending the inspection of all warehouses. The quality of rice must also be examined, he said.
He said the damaged rice may have been caused by leaked water, weevils or improper fumigation.