Authority:Haze problems in Thai North to be solved in one week

CHIANG MAI, March 7 (TNA) - A “No Burn” campaign kicked off Wednesday here to help solve haze problems, as authorities have targeted haze pollution in the Thai North to be relieved within seven days. A large crowd of people, led by Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office Worawat Ua-apinyakul and Chiang Mai Governor Mom Luang Panada Disakul, walked through the Ta Pae Road in Chiang Mai's Muang district, as part of the campaign, aimed to raise local people's awareness of impacts from the haze problems, during which campaigners also distributed facemasks to the public. Worawat said that he has told local authorities to strictly enforce the laws to prevent land-clearing fires and wildfires which are major causes of the haze problems in the northern Thai region, and that he will be monitoring the situation on a daily basis. According to prime minister’s office minister, there have been nearly 490 cases of land-clearing fires since early 2012, which have destroyed over 3,000 rai of local farmlands. The minister said that he now expects the northern smog in the current dry season should improve within seven days, after the public campaign was launched. Meanwhile, a large group of Cambodian immigrants was arrested in a raid by local authorities in Aranyaprathet district of Thailand's eastern Sa Kaeo province for illegal settlement on the Thai soil, as the Cambodians confessed that they had fled their homecountry due to drought and poverty. The authorities said that the arrested 71 Cambodians, comprising 51 men, 11 women and two children, would be taken to the Sa Kaeo Provincial Immigration Center pending legal action against them. (TNA)