A majority of Bangkokians said state agencies related to the tackling of Bangkok's PM2.5 crisis were somewhat inefficient in their work and the government’s week-long offer of free public transport would be of little help to solve the problem, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration.
Asked for their input on the efficiency of government agencies tasked with addressing the air pollution in the capital, 41.15% of respondents said they were somewhat inefficient, 35.34% completely inefficient, 20.38% somewhat efficient and only 3.13% very efficient.
Asked how much the free public transport campaign helped address the city’s PM2.5 crisis, 34.89% said very little, 33.89% not at all, 24.50% helped somewhat and only 6.72% helped significantly.
The opinions were divided equally on City Hall’s order to close educational institutions and efforts to seek cooperation from private and public sector employers to allow staff able to work from home to do so. The poll showed that 34.89% of respondents said the measures somewhat helped address the problem, 33.21% very little, 24.50% not at all and 8.47% significantly helped.
Lastly, when asked which state agency they thought could best tackle the ultrafine dust pollution in Bangkok, the answers varied as follows:
41.15% Pollution Control Department
34.27% Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
27.02% Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation
20.23% Department of Land Transport
17.56% no agency at all
16.34% Ministry of Industry
13.89% Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
12.67% Office of the Prime Minister
12.44% Ministry of Interior
10.46% Royal Thai Police
9.39% Ministry of Foreign Affairs
8.70% Ministry of Defence
8.47% Ministry of Commerce
7.79% Ministry of Finance
The Nida Poll was conducted by telephone interviews on Jan 27-28 with 1,310 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education, incomes and occupations in Bangkok.
