Villagers
challenge Egat's flood alarm
Just
a tactic to end occupation, they say
Anchalee
Kongrut Bangkok Post May 26th, 2000
Protesters
who have occupied the Pak Moon dam for 12 days accused the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand yesterday of faking a flood threat to make them
leave.
Wanida
Tantiwittayapitak, adviser to the Forum of the Poor, said the agency was
inventing scare scenarios to paint the protesters in a bad light.
Ms Wanida
was responding to a warning by Subhin Panyamag, Egat assistant governor, that
areas behind the dam were vulnerable because the level in the reservoir was
rising.
The level
had reached 107m above sea mean level and flooding was inevitable if it rose 1m
more, he said.
The
protesters had sealed off the machine room which prevented staff from entering
to carry out checks and maintainance on the spillways.
Without
regular checks, the system could be damaged and fail to open, he said. The
system was activated by a remote-control from Ubonrat dam in Khon Kaen.
Egat had
appealed three times to protesters to allow staff to enter the machine room, but
to no avail.
Mr Subhin
said Egat could not guarantee the consistent generation of electricity and water
because of the problem.
Ms Wanida
Tantiwittayapitak said an independent engineer should be assigned to examine
Egat's claim.
"Egat
can say anything it wants," she said. The warning could have been made to
justify Egat-engineered blackouts or flooding.
Ms Wanida
said the protesters were determined to remain in occupation because the
government would continue to ignore them if they gave up.
Calling on
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai to talk to the protesters, she said the government
would have to take responsibility for any flooding.
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