IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT WILLING TO HELP, BUT REQUEST SENT TO WRONG AGENCY

Pumps to drain inner city floods are just a phone call away, says Chartthaipattana Party de facto leader Banharn Silpa-archa.

STILL AFLOAT: Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Theera Wongsamut (right) inspects repairs along the Chao Phraya River in Pathum Thani.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra should contact the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) to solve the flooding crisis, he said yesterday.

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry's RID is supervised by Mr Banharn's party.

Mr Banharn spoke to the media yesterday after MR Sukhumbhand on Thursday said he did not receive cooperation from the RID when he asked for water pumps to remove water from inner Bangkok.

However, Mr Banharn said he had checked with RID director-general Chalit Damrongsak, who denied being contacted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) about the request.

Mr Banharn said he found that Bangkok city clerk Charoenrat Chutikarn had written to the Interior Ministry, not the RID, asking for water pumps.

"If MR Sukhumbhand calls to ask for water pumping machines from the RID director-general, it's all over.

"In such a crisis, we don't have to follow procedure exactly. If I were you [MR Sukhumbhand], I would finish it in one day," he said.

Since the floods began four months ago, the RID has sent many water pumping machines to flood-hit provinces, including more than 10 to eastern Bangkok.

Mr Banharn also criticised the BMA for diverting too much water to Khlong Pasi Charoen and Khlong Maha Sawat canals in the west of Bangkok through Tha Chin River as the two canals had no embankment and were generally shallow and full of rubbish.

As the Tha Chin is a meandering river, draining water through the river to the sea would take at least one and a half months, he said.

Mr Banharn, who comes from Suphan Buri, denied he had ordered RID officials not to open sluice gates there to protect his home province from floodwater.

Large parts of the province, especially Bang Pla Ma district, were submerged, and floods hit the province every year.

Mr Banharn said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had dealt with the flood problem carefully. She listened to all opinions, including those of RID officials, before making any decision.

It was not yet the right time to enforce an emergency decree to deal with flood problems. Doing so would create panic and fear among foreigners, he said.

Mr Banharn brushed aside claims his party will lose control over the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry in the next cabinet reshuffle because the ministry had failed to solve flood problems.

He hadn't heard such reports before.

Pheu Thai Party sources said former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, brother of prime minister Yingluck, was disappointed over the performance of some ministers throughout the flood crisis.

The sources said Thaksin wanted the next cabinet reshuffle to happen shortly.

Ministers under scrutiny and who could lose their jobs included Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, Social Development and Human Security Minister Santi Prompat, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Theera Wongsamut, Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul, and Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk.