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A Burmese reacts to an inoculation jab during the visit last night

Officials Pay Surprise Visit to Phuket Shanty Camp for Burmese Workers

Saturday, February 14, 2015
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.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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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

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So then, if the electric is not safe, if the roadway is not large enough and trucked in illegally on the back of lorries, then does that mean the Owner of the camp should be fined and paid to pay for the lack of safety?

Posted by Anonymous on February 14, 2015 17:13

Editor Comment:

If you have evidence that a particular person is responsible for conditions at the camp, which appears to most of us to be no better or no worse than other similar camps, then please speak out to the appropriate authorities. If you are simply extending and enlarging what little information you know without evidence, then it's little wonder you choose to remain anonymous.

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Ed Sanders....

With you 100 percent on your comment...

Posted by Robert on February 14, 2015 22:30

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What an odd comment by the editor, Anonymous was only asking the question as to whether the owner of the property/company should be fined. Ans os they should and so should all the others, its just common sense if they are breaking local laws by placing residents in danger

Posted by ????????????????????? on February 16, 2015 08:36

Editor Comment:

''If you have evidence that a particular person is responsible for conditions at the camp, which appears to most of us to be no better or no worse than other similar camps, then please speak out to the appropriate authorities. If you are simply extending and enlarging what little information you know without evidence, then it's little wonder you choose to remain anonymous.''

Anonymous accusations are worthless, anonymous. if you have real concerns, go visit the appropriate authorities.


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