PUBLISHED : 10 Mar 2024 at 15:38
CHIANG MAI: The governor of the northern province has announced a 10,000-baht reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of a person who sets fire to forested areas.
Governor Nirat Sitthithaworn said on Sunday the reward was a bid to control smog amid the the ease of setting fire to forested areas in March, when the weather is dry.
“The reward is for each person who provides information that leads to the arrest of a person who starts a fire in a forest. When a police interrogator agrees to take legal action, meaning that there is a culprit, the 10,000-baht reward will be paid that very same day,” the Chiang Mai governor said.
He hoped the measure would discourage anyone who planned to set a fire in a forest to collect forest products.
According to the governor, local officials focused on curbing burning in farmland during the first two months of this year and the measure prevented field burning in more than 200,000 rai of agricultural land in Chiang Mai.
Deliberately-set forest fires increase in March to pave the way for the collection of forest products and to clear land for corn. To mitigate the damage and emissions of greenhouse gases, Chiang Mai officials are trying to contain forest fires the same day they start.
The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda) reported at 2pm on Sunday that Chiang Mai had the highest level of particulate matter 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter (PM2.5) in the country.
PM2.5 accumulated at 64.0 microgrammes per cubic metre of air in Chiang Mai over the past 24 hours. The safe threshold is at 37.5µg/m3.