PM:Government will take action to prevent repeated floods

BANGKOK, February 11 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Saturday that her government gives priority to flood prevention and is implementing measures to ensure there will be no repeated massive flooding this year. Yingluck insisted during her weekly address, "the Yingluck government meets people", Saturday morning that she will follow His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's advice and initiatives on water management, noting that her administration has divided water management plans into those for upstream, middle stream and downstream areas. For upstream areas, the prime minister acknowledged that water in all large dams will be managed more properly this year; while more trees will be grown and flood prevention dikes will be built to delay runoffs. According to the Puea Thai premier, her government is planning to seek people's cooperation in turning some two million rai plots of land in the country's central plains for being developed into monkey cheeks for water retention, as a main program in the government's flood prevention measures for the middle stream areas, promising that her administration will do the best to minimize negative impacts on local residents. For downstream areas, Premier Yingluck said that local waterways, including rivers and canals, will be dredged and sluice gates will be repaired to rapidly drain northern runoffs to the sea. (TNA)