Government panel discusses floods in eight Thai provinces

BANGKOK, December 9 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit chaired a meeting of a government panel tasked with draining areas which have remained flooded in eight provinces on Friday to discuss ways to quickly dry out the affected areas, including installing more water pumps. Yongyuth said that recommendations from water management experts were also raised at the meeting, aimed to enable flood victims to live their normal life as soon as possible. The remaining flooded areas are parts of Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Chachoengsao Provinces, as well as Bangkok. As floodwater in most parts of the Thai capital has been receding, Bangkok Governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra said that he has, meanwhile, ordered his Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) workers to collect mountains of garbage in the city within the New Year’s Eve, December 31. According to the governor, BMA workers have collected a record of 13,643 tonnes of garbage in Bangkok's all 50 districts, an increase of some 160 per cent or from a daily average of 8,500 tonnes of garbage collected normally. (TNA)