The government whip will present the draft of charter amendments to the House on Tuesday, Palang Pracharat Party spokesperson Patcharin Samsiripong said on Monday (August 31).
Patcharin said the draft will be delivered to House Speaker Chuan Leekpai so it can be added to the agenda of the September 23 to 24 meeting being held to discuss the setting up of a Constitution Drafting Committee.
However, she said, the amendments will not touch chapters 1 and 2, which are related to the monarchy.
Meanwhile, the drafting committee will comprise 200 members, 150 of whom will be elected personnel from each province, 20 will be chosen by the House, 20 will be named by the Conference of University Presidents of Thailand and 10 will be student representatives, she said.
Four districts will pilot Bangkok’s transformation into a smart city, under a plan unveiled by the National Charter of Thailand today.
The plan, which covers Rattanakosin Island, Yaowarat (Chinatown), Asoke (from Asoke intersection to Rama IX Road) and Tao Poon, was presented to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) today by the National Charter of Thailand, which is funded by Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI).
It calls for 580 square metres of Yaowarat to be developed into a web of transport and shops integrated through CCTV and free public Wi-Fi. The district will be made pedestrian-friendly by extending the pavement and reducing traffic, with upgrades for the bus system, lighting, shopfronts and drainage. The aim is to boost the number of shoppers and tourists visiting Chinatown.
Negotiations for Yaowarat’s smart district development are underway and the project could get started this year, said Thapana Bunyapravitra, director of the National Charter of Thailand.
“The development budget will be around Bt30 million and the National Charter will design it for free,” said Thapana.
However, the first smart district eyed for development is Rattanakosin Island, to be designed and operated by Silpakorn University. This project is awaiting approval from the Royal Household Office and the Treasury Department.
Meanwhile, the Asoke Smart District is set for development next year and will cover Asoke intersection and its large shopping centres, Srinakharinwirot University, Makkasan BTS station and its future large shopping centre, and Rama IX intersection with Central Rama IX mall.
Plans for the Tao Poon-Bang Po smart district centre on the new national railway hub, Bang Sue Grand Station, which will be used by almost 3 million people per day. Smart infrastructure will link the station and its 200,000 square metres of retail space to the new Parliament area and Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon.
Innocent street sweeper beaten up when royalists ‘see red’
NationalAug 31. 2020Photo Credit to Sombat Thongyoi
By The Nation
A guard at a royalist rally on Sunday (August 30) at Bangkok’s Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng allegedly beat up a man just because he was wearing a red shirt.
Din Daeng police were notified of the assault and took down a complaint that street sweeper Sukhon Puttan, 60, was beaten up by another man, who then fled.
It is assumed that the guard of Thai Pakdee royalist group may have assumed that Sukhon had worn red to show he was associated with the anti-coup red-shirt movement.
Move Forward Party MP Amarat Chokepamitkul responded to the assault with a sarcastic message on Facebook saying the party would help the Thai Pakdee group if they were threatened by officers, and pointed out that the rally went smoothly without any interference.
Border officials nabbed 11 Myanmar citizens for sneaking into Thailand via the natural border in Tak’s Mae Sot district on Monday (August 31) and found that two had a high temperature.
Mae Sot district chief Chaiyapruek Chianthanrak said the illegal migrants tried to cross the Moei River into Thailand, but were ambushed by the Mae Sot security task force.
Deputy district chief Siriphon Sonwai, who also heads the task force, said her team managed to nab three Myanmar nationals as soon as their boat arrived at the bank, and later learned that the remaining eight – six women and two men – were hiding in a building near the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.
Of the eight, two were found to have a fever and were sent to Mae Sot Hospital for treatment.
The illegal migrants reportedly said they had come to Thailand to find work as jobs in Myanmar had dried up.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charvirakul said that he had every intention to lift the restrictions on cannabis and allow it to be grown commercially, but said his plan had been delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The minister was speaking at a convention on hemp products in Nonthaburi province on Monday (August 31).
He said initially cannabis will only be used for medicinal purposes and it will be a controlled substance while the law is being considered.
Once approved, Thais who have medical certificates will be allowed to freely grow marijuana, while farmers can help extract cannabis oil to make cannabis products.
Several studies have revealed that cannabis extracts are not addictive and highly beneficial, and the ministry is making adjustments to the law to help cannabis growers, Anutin added.
Several tourists were found visiting the Iyerweng viewpoint in Narathiwat province this weekend, for spectacular views of the sunrise and sea fog that the area is famous for.
The viewpoint, located in Bae Tong district, rises 2,038 feet above sea level. The sea fog view from here is stunning and comparable with the view from many famous places in northern provinces. Also, it can be seen throughout the year.
In addition to the sunrise and sea fog, visitors can see from the viewpoint the Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, where hornbills are obvious to human vision.
In clear weather, visitors can look out onto Malaysia from the Iyerweng.
The Thailand Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) has announced that hackers tried to break into the Digital Economy and Society Ministry’s website, http://www.mdes.com, last Thursday (August 27) with the aim of bringing down the server.
Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said ThaiCERT was able to get rid of the hackers within an hour, adding that this was a test of the security of his ministry’s website.
According to ThaiCERT, there have been 1,474 instances of cyberthreats in the first half of this year. Of the threats, 36 per cent were found to be malicious code, 23.5 per cent related to fraud and 19 per cent related to vulnerability.
The Department of Energy Business has said that the daily usage of fuel in the past seven months has fallen by 13.8 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Nantika Thansuphanich, the department’s director general, said the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 was the main factor behind this drop in fuel demand.
She said the daily usage of gasohol had fallen by 4.9 per cent to 29.6 million litres a day, while the use of benzine fuel had dropped by 19.6 per cent to just 800,000 litres daily.
The use of fuel in the diesel family had dropped by 4.5 per cent to 65.4 million litres daily.
The demand for jet fuel has also dropped to around 9 million litres a day, falling 53.5 per cent compared to the same period last year due to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand’s measures controlling arrivals and departures.
As for liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas vehicle (NGV), Nantika said the daily usage has fallen to 14.9 million litres and 3.8 million litres respectively, marking a 16.8 per cent and 31.7 per cent drop.
Subsequently, she said, fuel imports during the period had fallen 9.6 per cent to 912,987 barrels a day, though the export of refined oil in the past seven months had risen to 197,551 barrels a day or 16.6 per cent. The exports include benzene, diesel, fuel oil, jet fuel, kerosene and LPG.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is working on tearing down resorts that have been illegally built on land granted to them under a royal project in the forested areas of Mon Cham mountain now that their appeal period has expired.
Thanetphon Thanaboonyawat, secretary to the natural resources and environment minister, visited Chiang Mai’s Mae Rim district on Sunday (August 30) to follow up on solving land disputes in the Mae Rin National Forest.
Thanetphon Thanaboonyawat (Centre)
He said that after investigating structures built in more than 13,000 rai of forest reserves in Chiang Mai’s Pong Yaeng and Mon Cham subdistricts, his team found that 113 landowners had allegedly misused the land granted to them.
“Of the 113 landowners, 30 have either changed owners or sold their land to foreign businesses, so we no choice but to enforce the law until this problem is solved,” he said.
“After filing a lawsuit against these landowners in December last year, they were given eight months to file an appeal.”
He added that Mon Doi Loi Fah resort was among the 30 resorts that will be razed to the ground.
“As for the rest of the landowners, the team will encourage them to use the land in line with the royal project’s purpose,” he said.
Thanetphon added that the ministry has approved the Forest Resource Management Office 1 (Chiang Mai)’s proposal to set up a committee to monitor the situation and come up with a long-term solution.
“Once land problems in Mon Cham area have been resolved, we will shift our focus to other forest reserves,” he added.
The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security is working on projects to build residences for the elderly in Bangkok and its vicinity.
Social Development and Human Security Minister Juti Krairiksh said this move was in line with the ministry’s policy to pay attention to the elderly. He said the ministry would cooperate with the National Housing Authority to work on the projects in four provinces, namely Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Prakarn.
“The ministry aims to build 360 residential units in Pathum Thani’s Baan Katanyoo Khlong Luang 1 and 2 projects, 210 units under the Thung Kraphang Hom project in Nakhon Pathom, 30 units in Bangkok under the Suwinthawong project and 530 units in Samut Prakan’s Ban Khlong Suan project,” he said.
“Also, we will allow the private sector to renovate buildings to support living conditions of the elderly and take care of them under the National Housing Authority and related parties’ terms.”
Photo Credit to Sombat Thongyoi
Buddhipongse Punnakanta
