The country's critical issues of inequality in education, public health and city development have not been addressed in the 2024 budget bill, according to Move Forward Party (MFP) spokeswoman Pukkamon Nunarnan.
During the third day of the debate on the bill on Friday, Ms Pukkamon, a party-list MP, said that out of the 3.48 trillion baht proposed, the government failed to have a proper spending plan for the 23-billion-baht provincial development budget and that the allocation was no different from that awarded under the previous administration of Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Spatial inequality is a major crisis, she said, but the 2024 bill seems to fit with the mechanism of centralisation rather than abet decentralisation.
"With this current bill, the province with the highest population and best economic growth will likely obtain the largest proportion of the budget.
"If that allocation remains unchanged, developed provinces will be more prosperous, and provinces in need will suffer more. So how can poverty be eradicated?"
More than 52% of the provincial development budget is to be used for building roads, bridges and traffic lights, according to the plan, while another 20% would be used for building more water sources.
However, Ms Pukkamon claimed that, as of now, she has only been privy to plans to set up more dams to protect riverbanks.
She said provincial budgets were also found to have the poorest reimbursement system as 25% of these, on average, have been available for reimbursement each year. Inequality in education should also have been considered, Ms Pukkamon said, as most of the nation's top-quality schools are located in Bangkok.
The latest Ordinary National Education Test (O-Net) showed that most schools in Bangkok yielded the highest scores. Students with poor scores often hail from the southernmost provinces, such as Narathiwat, with an average scoring difference of 20 points.
"The students' O-Net scores indicate the opportunities they have to pursue higher education. The 2024 budget allocation doesn't help resolve the inequality in this field at all," she said.
Another area of concern she cited is the lack of equality in terms of who can easily access medical services. Given the current proportion of doctors per capita, one doctor in Bangkok would treat 500 patients, while one in Nong Bua Lam Phu must treat 4,700.
"This is an existing problem provincial people face. Patients in remote areas would have to leave home at 4am given the long distance to the hospital, just so a doctor could see them for 10 minutes."
"I'm not sure if the government really understands the crisis people are facing.
"These problems require attention and can't be solved just by taking out a loan to give people a handout," she said.
Ms Pukkamon also cited a key election campaign pledge by Pheu Thai. She reminded the government of its promise to decentralise local administration, use taxpayers' money to boost public prosperity and roll out elections for provincial governors.