Phrae: About 1,000 residents joined a protest over the ruling Pheu Thai Party's proposed revival of the controversial Kaeng Suea Ten Dam project in Song district.
Their protest converged on tambon Sa Lab, where locals paraded three coffins marked with the names of Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin, and former deputy prime minister Plodprasop Suraswadi. The three politicians are accused of being instrumental in dusting off the project.
The protest was organised in response to Mr Phumtham's recent remark about the government's revived interest in the 200-billion-baht water management programme, which includes building the dam, to mitigate flooding in the Yom River basin.
A Kaeng Suea Ten Dam project was first proposed in 1980 but was heavily criticised by locals and environmentalists. The Yingluck Shinawatra administration brought it up again in 2012, but it was suspended after the 2014 military coup.
This time, Mr Phumtham raised the idea, arguing it would reduce levels in the Yom River, one of the tributaries of the Chao Phraya River that flows through the Central Plains provinces, including Bangkok, before emptying into the Gulf of Thailand.
His idea was seconded by Mr Somsak, the leader of the Wang Nam Yom group whose political stronghold is in Sukhothai adjacent to Phrae, as well as Mr Plodprasop, a former natural resource and environment permanent secretary.
However, Harnnarong Yaowalers, president of the Foundation for Integrated Water Management, said the dam could wipe out 40,000 rai of the few remaining golden teak forests.
The project also risks displacing at least 2,000 families in three villages -- Baan Mae Ten, Don Kaew and Don Chai, he added.