Factory complaints mostly came from Pathum Thani

Bangkok, Aug 14 (TNA) - The Industry Ministry finds that in the past ten months most complaints about factories came from Pathum Thani province, so it is promoting good governance among operators including small and medium-sized ones. Somchai Harnhirun, permanent secretary for industry, said that from last October to July his ministry received 427 complaints about factories and most of them concerned violations against laws and environmental regulations, such as their unpleasant smells, noise pollution, dust, smoke, wastewater, unauthorized operations, and hazardous waste. He said most complaints were from Pathum Thani province. During the same period, the Industry Ministry received 135 reports on emergency cases. Most of them were fires, followed by accidents, chemical leakages and demonstrations. Most reports came from Chon Buri province. Mr Somchai said that industrial officials normally inspected factories once a year but would do so more than twice a year at the factories mentioned in the complaints. The officials are also educating operators on proper operations. This year they organized six seminars on the issue in four regions and 724 operators including small and medium-sized ones participated in the sessions. Besides, the Industry Ministry built 432 networks of people to monitor environmental issues at problematic factories in 54 provinces and surveys found that more than 80% of people were happy that such factories were cooperating with the monitoring project, Mr Somchai said. (TNA)