Thai PM joins “big cleaning day” in Ayutthaya

AYUTTHAYA, November 8 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to join a "big cleaning day" in the country's central Ayutthaya Province on Tuesday afternoon, as the flood situation in most areas in the ancient city has been returning to normal. Although areas near the so-called provincial island in the heart of Ayutthaya have remained inundated, with at least five more days needed for drying out the floodwater through many installed water pumps, local people and all other parties have joined forced in expediting the clean-up of the receding areas to resume their normal ways of life and businesses. Ayutthaya, where at least three major industrial sites are housed, is the first flood-hit province that Premier Yingluck has announced to launch official rehabilitation plans in the wake of recent floods, followed by the Nakhon Sawan Province in the Lower Thai North. Meanwhile, donations and assistance in several forms have been flowing to flood victims in Bangkok and peripheral provinces, namely Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Pathom. The provincial support includes ready-to-eat and dried food, mobile kitchens, consumer products, boats and even floating toilets. (TNA)