PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket and a large group of local authorities staged a surprise visit late yesterday to a shanty camp for construction workers that at times has held up to 400 Burmese laborers.
Personnel from the Navy, Public Health, the Labor Office, local police, the mayor of Chalong and local village chiefs found 57 men, 45 women and four children occupying the shanty camp.
Governor Nisit Jansomwong looked on as nurses made health checks and vaccinated some of the camp residents. Others were checked for having permission to work.
The governor said the central pool for ablutions did not appear to be especially hygenic and added that although the shacks had electricity, the provision of power did not appear to meet safety standards.
A single track led to the camp, making access for fire trucks in the event of a blaze difficult.
Some of the workers had been living in the camp at the Luangpusupa Temple in Chalong for three years, the governor was told. Workers were paid the minimum of 300 baht a day and subjected to a 9pm curfew.
The camp chief said that workers were trucked each day in three 10-wheel vehicles to the construction site, the Dewana Patong Resort in Patong, and brought back the same way.
At any time on Phuket, hundreds of the camps are thought to be home for thousands of construction workers, both legal and illegal.
The governor wants to improve conditions in the workers' camps.
Personnel from the Navy, Public Health, the Labor Office, local police, the mayor of Chalong and local village chiefs found 57 men, 45 women and four children occupying the shanty camp.
Governor Nisit Jansomwong looked on as nurses made health checks and vaccinated some of the camp residents. Others were checked for having permission to work.
The governor said the central pool for ablutions did not appear to be especially hygenic and added that although the shacks had electricity, the provision of power did not appear to meet safety standards.
A single track led to the camp, making access for fire trucks in the event of a blaze difficult.
Some of the workers had been living in the camp at the Luangpusupa Temple in Chalong for three years, the governor was told. Workers were paid the minimum of 300 baht a day and subjected to a 9pm curfew.
The camp chief said that workers were trucked each day in three 10-wheel vehicles to the construction site, the Dewana Patong Resort in Patong, and brought back the same way.
At any time on Phuket, hundreds of the camps are thought to be home for thousands of construction workers, both legal and illegal.
The governor wants to improve conditions in the workers' camps.
Good for the Governor. Every day we see these work trucks over-loaded with these poor people and I feel terrible for them. They are transported like cattle, work their butts of all day, then transported like cattle back to these camps. These people deserve better treatment and living conditions, including a limit as to how many should be allowed in a vehicle. Some of these trucks and the idiots that drive them are a tragedy waiting to happen...again.
Posted by Ed Sanders on February 14, 2015 16:08