Pita vows to grill Srettha govt with forest fire info gathered in Chiang Mai

Pita visited Chiang Mai on Saturday, the same day as Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, to observe the operation to fight forest fires, which were blamed for high levels of PM2.5 ultrafine pollutants.

On Sunday, Pita posted on his Facebook wall that he had gathered enough first-hand information while observing forest fire-fighting operations during his visit to Chiang Mai’s San Patong district on Saturday.

He said he had learned about obstacles from forestry officials, fire-fighters, and senior and junior officials.

In particular, Pita thanked Sombat Boonngamanong, editor of Lai Jut online magazine, and the staff of the Mirror Foundation for leading him to observe the forest fires and operations to fight the blaze. He said the staff of the foundation also conveyed their experience over five years dealing with forest fires and PM2.5 air pollution in Chiang Mai.

“I’ll use this information during the debate in Parliament,” Pita posted.

The opposition has submitted a motion calling for a general debate against the government, scheduled for April 3-4.

He said the first-hand experience at the site had given him an understanding of how dangerous the operations were for fire-fighters battling the blaze.

He added that the fire-fighters put their lives at great risk, as they do not have enough protective gear.

Earlier, Srettha had posted on his X (formerly Twitter) microblogging page that the PM2.5 issue in Chiang Mai was partly caused by economic issues.

Srettha posted that his government had been trying to get farmers to make compost fertilizer from their farm byproducts or process the farm leftovers into other products instead of burning them like in the past.

Srettha added in the post that the central fund allocated by his government for fighting forest fires could be reimbursed now.

He said only local villagers would be hired to help fight or monitor against new fires because local people love their forests and areas.

The PM said his government would ensure that forest fire-fighters would have enough protection gear.

He added that his government was in the process of cooperating with neighbouring countries to stop the burning of weeds and farm leftovers.

He said if the burning in neighbouring countries was prevented, the PM2.5 level in Chiang Mai could be reduced by 40-100%.

Srettha added that the government might resort to a ban on import of corns from neighbouring countries during the peak of the PM2.5 pollution – from January to April – if the burning of cornfields were a major cause of transborder smog.

He said his government would make Chiang Mai a nice city to live and visit and would ensure the local people have good health.