The confusion over Khlong Sam Wa sluice gate continues today Nov. 3: Prime Minister Yingluck said she has ordered government officials to negotiate with local residents over the issue while Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand said that Yingluck has relinquished control of the gate back to him.
Coconuts Bangkok story and photos on the situation at the sluice gate on Monday are here.
Workers from Sukhumbhand’s Bangkok Metropolitan Authority yesterday repaired the section of the sluice gate that had been damaged by angry residents with security from 400 police offices, the Nation reported.
Sukhumbhand used a clause in the disaster prevention law to order the repair of the sluice gate, according to the Bangkok Post, despite the fact that Yingluck had ordered the gate to be opened wider earlier in the week.
Yingluck seems to have backed down on the command to open the gate wider. “I have ordered a committee to negotiate with residents [living upstream] to narrow the gate so that less overflow will enter Bangkok,” she said. “We are talking to residents and we believe they will cooperate.”
The Bang Chan Industrial Estate in Minburi, one of the few not flooded in the country, would be at risk also.
Communities to the north of the floodgate are angry because they have been inundated since August.
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:null,”attributes”:{“class”:”media-image”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”style”:””,”alt”:””}}]]
Residents look over the destroyed section of the Khlong Sam Wa sluice gate on Nov. 1. Photo: Coconuts Bangkok
