Deputy Bangkok Governor Jakkaphan Phiew-ngarm said yesterday that help was now being given to these affected trees.
The volumes of waste have been huge given the more than 1.5 million people who have entered Sanam Luang in recent weeks to pay respects to the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Most people are using rubbish bins or bags, but others unthinkingly are throwing leftover drinks or soup on the trees.
Since His Majesty’s passing on October 13, his body has been resting at the Grand Palace opposite Sanam Luang, or the so-called Royal Grounds, with thousands flocking to the area both day and night.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has urged mourners around Sanam Luang to make sure they do not harm the trees.
Chief adviser to the Bangkok governor Wanlop Suwandee said many tamarind trees had withered because of the litter. “Tamarind trees around Sanam Luang are historical, and many of them had been living almost a century. Please do not leave anything behind such as rubbish, cigarette ends, food scraps or beverages,” he said.
He said the BMA had cleaned up rubbish, drained wastewater from saturated soil in the vicinity of the trees, increased the supply of oxygen by burying PVC pipes with holes drilled in them, and covered the soil with sandbags to prevent flooding.
Surachet Phocharoen, agricultural technical senior officer of the BMA Environment Department’s Public Parks Office, said there were approximately 783 tamarind trees around Sanam Luang, three of which had withered due to polluted water.
“The exact problem is excess water around the trees that was poured by mourners and became polluted by their rubbish. The sandbags covering the soil will absorb the water while allowing oxygen to pass to the soil,” he said, adding that the BMA would erect signs to inform the public about not harming the trees.
Some of the tamarind trees around the grounds were planted more than a century ago in accordance with King Rama V’s royal order after he was inspired by Indonesia’s Royal Plaza, or Alun Alun. King Rama V selected tamarind tree because the Thai name ma kham sounds similar to the word kreng kham, which means formidable. The trees have weathered numerous historic national events from elaborate royal ceremonies to political demonstrations.
Environment advocate networks had voluntarily joined city staff to protect the trees, BMA spokesperson Threedow Aphai-wongs Sukhum said.
“The network of people protecting the trees today coordinated with the BMA’s Environment Depart-ment to campaign for guarding the historical tamarind trees,” she said.