Two years ago, the ministry signed a contract with the outsourcing companies to issue passports, stipulating that the company would produce 7 million passports, after which the contract would end.

The companies in the consortium are Chan Wanich Co Ltd, Chan Wanich Security Printing Co Ltd and NEC Asia Pacific Ltd.

At present, 6.97 million have been issued, leaving only 30,000 more to be issued. On a typical day, 10,000 requests are received for the issuance or re-issuance of passports, which would have left only three more days. The ministry had said the process to find new companies through an e-bidding process could take a year to complete.

However, to solve the immediate problem, the ministry on Tuesday proposed that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) invoke Article 44 of the interim charter to allow the ministry to extend the contract with the current companies for one year.

The ministry could not renew or extend the contract through normal processes as the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) had deemed it illegal, Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.

However, the NCPO rejected the proposal, saying Article 44 could be criticised for being used too often, Sansern said. The NCPO then ordered Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam to meet with the OAG and the Foreign Ministry to seek a solution, Sansern said.

“The OAG should understand that a solution can’t be found if one bluntly sticks to rules,” Sansern said.

The contract would be extended if the OAG compromises. If not, Article 44 powers might be |reconsidered to resolve the issue, he added.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Linna Tangthasiri said passports would be issued without interruption but did not elaborate how the ministry would do so or why the issue had only been addressed so close to the deadline.

The ministry saw more than 1.58 million requests for normal e-passports in 2015. From January to May last year, the latest information available, it received 769,085 requests. No one at the ministry would explain why there were not plans in place to maintain the supply of passports.

On February 8, the department issued a five-point order on the use of colistin to the Thai Swine Veterinary Association (TSVA) after it was reported that farmers in Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri provinces had been feeding the antibiotic to pigs.

According to the department, veterinarians across the country must adhere to the following guidelines when using colistin, which can only be used to treat diarrhoea:

It cannot be used to prevent disease.

It can only be used when all other antibiotics fail in treating a sick animal.

The provincial Livestock Development Office must be informed when colistin is used on farm animals.

Veterinarians in charge of supervising farms must check animal feed to ensure it is not laced with colistin and have the feed checked in a lab periodically.

The department will send officials to farms for random checks to see if colistin is being used, and if rules are breached, farm veterinarians could have their licences suspended or revoked.

LDD deputy chief Sorawit Thanito said that after China discovered MCR-1, a gene with a mobilised colistin resistance, in 2015, the department issued nine urgent letters to related associations, including the Food and Drug Administration, to declare colistin as a controlled medication and to have the sale of the antibiotic dropped by 70 per cent.

“The [five-point] order will also help control the use of colistin because some 70 per cent of farm pigs in Thailand are being raised under the supervision of veterinarians,” he added.

Sorawit said the department’s move was to ensure the drug was being used correctly.

TSVA president Pramote Tanrawat said he would distribute the five-point order to the 800 members of the association. He also called on the Public Health Ministry to ensure that colistin cannot be bought over the counter, which would allow farmers to bypass veterinarians in their use of the antibiotic.

The colistin-resistant gene was reportedly found in pigs, chicken and humans in 16 countries including Thailand from 2010 to 2015.

An inspection of the bridge found that the integrity of two of the lanes sustained only minimal damage in the fire. However, two other lanes heading towards Klong Toei were severely damaged and will be closed for repairs.

One of the damaged lanes will be opened for use on March 6 while the other lane will require one month to fix, said Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang.

During the repair period, the two undamaged lanes will be used for both incoming and outgoing traffic during normal hours, said Metropolitan Police Bureau’s traffic commander Pol Maj-General Jirasan Kaewsaeng-ek. During the morning rush hours from 6am to 10am, both lanes will be reserved for inbound traffic, and during the evening rush hours from 3pm to 8pm, the two lanes will carry only outbound traffic.

Trucks with six wheels or more, buses and motorcycles will be prohibited from using the two lanes at all times.

The Thai-Belgian Flyover reportedly saw traffic from nearly 200,000 cars from 7am to 7pm on daily basis, said Jirasan.

Motorists wishing for more information can contact the traffic police command centre at 1197, visit http://www.trafficpolice.go.th, or use the smartphone application “Police I Lert U”.

Since the partial reopening yesterday, the traffic volume at and around the flyover’s Rama IV intersection was normal and 20 traffic policemen had been dispatched to accommodate motorists during the evening rush hours, said deputy city police chief Pol Maj-General Jirapat Phumjit.

The police investigation into the Tuesday fire, which damaged 100 new garbage bins inside a storage cage under the flyover, is ongoing. It is suspected that a passing pedestrian or motorist discarded a lit cigarette butt, which may have caused the fire.

The “Save Andaman from Coal” group and concerned residents who are against the 870 megawatt coal-fired power plant gathered at Krabi City Hall yesterday asking to meet with Governor Pinit Boonlert. Upon meeting the governor later in the afternoon, group leader Akkaradej Chakjinda submitted a request asking him to mediate between opposition and support groups and help ease the conflict with information-based discussions.

“We don’t want to see conflicts and tension in our hometown, especially since both sides are using different sets of information. We suggest that the governor and provincial authorities stay neutral and provide a space for both sides to discuss the coal-fired plant project and help resolve the conflict,” Akkaradej said.

Another prominent member of the group Prasitchai Nu-nuan also called on the provincial authorities to stop using their authority to build support groups for the coal-fired power plant.

“The prime minister’s order is clear – he wants the authorities to have a clear understanding of the project, not set up support groups for it. If this continues, it will be unjust and create conflicts in our province,” Prasitchai said.

Earlier last month, an official letter was sent by the Klong Thom district office asking all villages in the district to send representatives to City Hall to show support for the project. However, this was later denied and the deputy district chief was removed from the post.

Meanwhile, the governor insisted that the provincial authorities were always neutral in relation to the coal-fired project and that the province will present these demands to the government.

“The EHIA [Environmental and Health Impact Assessment] process for the project will have to start all over again and it is the duty of academics to oversee that. We will ensure that the provincial authorities do not interfere in this procedure,” he said.

On the same day, the people’s network in Satun submitted a petition to the provincial governor asking the authorities to stop the upcoming public hearing for the Pak Bara deep-sea port and revise the EHIA for the project. They claim the EHIA was not properly conducted and could cause conflicts in the future.

The first public hearing for the Pak Bara project will be held on March 16 in La-ngu district.

Thursday, March 2, 2017 

Bangkok : The power outage areas are;

08.00 – 15.30

– Ratchapruk Road, Q Twelve Village.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Bangkok : The power outage areas are;

09.00 – 12.00

– Soi Perfect Place, Soi 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.

09.00 – 14.00

– Soi Perfect Place, Soi 9, 19.

Saturday, March 4, 2017 

Bangkok : The power outage areas are;

08.00 – 15.30

– Along Petchkasem Road, Start from Soi Petchkasem 20 (Throughout the Soi) to the beginning of Soi Petchkasem 28.

08.30 – 14.30

– Bangbon 5 Road, Kanda Village (Next to Soi Satit).

08.30 – 15.30

– Wutthakat Road, Start from Wutthakat 28 to Wutthakat BTS and Wat Mai Yai Nui School.

– Ban Nai Rean Road, Start from Soi Yampaka to Perm Sansuk Sale Service Co.,Ltd.

– Mitmaitri Road, Start from Klong Lam Jedi to Klong Pai Dam.

09.00 – 15.00

– Nuanchan Road, Sureeporn Village (Throughout the Soi).

– Soi Ramkhamhaeng 118.

Nonthaburi : The power outage areas are;

08.30 – 15.00

– The Road along Klong Bangkrabue, Pruksa Village 37, 69, 76, 98 and Prapin 3 Village, Lotus Farm Zone, Soi 1-7.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Bangkok : The power outage areas are;

08.00 – 15.30

– Praditmanutham Road, Start from Honda Showroom to Klong Kriang.

08.30 – 15.30

– Soi Pattana Chonnabot 3, Start from Soi Pattana Chonnabot 3 Intersection 15 to the new road (extension area), the road at Soi Krua Khun Noi, Home Place Village and THE PLANT 2 Village.

– Start from Ta Hospital to Soi Phahonyothin 67/1, 69 (Krung Thai Bank, New Bridge), 69/1, 69/2.

– Prawet Police Station.

08.30 – 16.00

– Sihaburanukit Road, Soi Sihaburanukit 8.

Nonthaburi : The power outage areas are;

08.30 – 15.00

– Saphan Nonthaburi-Bangbuathong Road (345), Soi Wangka 1-8.

08.30 – 15.30

– Rattanathibet Road (Inbound), Start from Thanasiri Village, Panarin Village to the beginning of Soi Pamai Uthit.

Samutprakarn : The power outage areas are;

08.30 – 16.30

– Wat Sriwarinoi Road (West Side), Start from Phosri Hattawet Shop to the beginning of Soi Kesorn.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Bangkok : The power outage areas are;

09.00 – 12.00

– The end of Soi Vibhavadi 33.

In case of any enquiries, the people can contact our district offices on the phone number listed on the back of invoice or call MEA at 1130 for 24 hours service. Also, they can check out the latest power outage notification at http://www.mea.or.th

Representatives from the parties – Mahachon, Phalang Chon, Thai Forest Land Reclamation, People Power Network, Cooperative Power and Thai Rubber – provided comments to the committee on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The opinions will be included in the hearing conducted by the committee, overseen by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, as a process to issue an “agreement of truth” to be endorsed by various blocs in the hope of settling the long-running political crisis.

Committee Spokesperson Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanich said the parties had concluded that reconciliation must be built on engagement by all sectors as well as respect for laws and political mechanisms.

The judicial system and independent agencies, the parties said, must be transparent so they can be scrutinised in line with a checks-and-balances system. The government must also manage natural resources to cope with social inequality efficiently and educate young people to be aware of the threat of corruption, Kongcheep quoted the parties as saying.

He added that the committee had heard comments from 30 parties and was expecting to hear from the rest by the end of the month. Four more minor parties will be heard tomorrow.

The Pheu Thai Party is scheduled to meet the committee next Wednesday, followed by the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship on March 15, he added.

More than 6,800 people have died in a rebellion waged by ethnic Malay militants in Buddhist-majority Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, a region known as the “Deep South”.

Talks held in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur have staggered on for years, undercut by near-daily bombs, ambushes and assassinations in the Deep South and a decade of political instability in Bangkok.

The army has been talking with Mara Patani, an umbrella group that says it is a political wing representing the shadowy network of fighters.

The Thai side doubts the Mara’s ability to prod rebel footsoldiers into putting down their guns in an area where resentment against more than a century of Thai colonisation runs high.

For their part, the rebels are not convinced Thailand’s junta will reduce its massive security presence across the south or devolve significant political power.

But in a confidence-building measure the two sides on Tuesday “approved and adopted a general framework for the implementation of a safety zone in one of five proposed districts,” the Mara said in a statement.

It did not reveal the district chosen for the zone, which would provide respite for civilians from the bloody conflict.

Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha welcomed the development but warned that continued rebel attacks to undermine the safety zone would damage the peace process.

“If the safety zone cannot happen, it will prove the potential of the people we are talking to,” he told reporters in Bangkok.

The long-running insurgency is mostly contained to Thailand’s southern tip.

But deadly bombs attacks struck tourist towns further north in August 2016.

The insurgents rarely claim responsibility for their attacks but the suspects wanted for the bombings are Muslims from the southern region.