Welfare officials to increase city bus stop inspections
PUBLISHED : 30 Jul 2024 at 17:38
Welfare officials will step up inspections of Bangkok bus stops after five homeless people were found sleeping in the passenger shelter at a stop outside a busy city mall on Monday night.
Police and staff from the Human Security Emergency Management Centre (HuSEC) were sent on Monday night to investigate a report that homeless people had taken over a bus stop outside The Mall Lifestore in Bang Kapi district.
They found five people asleep on the seats – day labourers who could not afford accommodation, former convicts and old people subsisting without support from their families.
They were offered assistance and support by HuSEC, but preferred to stay outside the system, Social Development and Human Security Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said.
They were made to leave the bus shelter, which is for the use of passengers, but could not be forced to enter the welfare system.
“The police were entitled to move these people out of there, for obstructing public transport. However, this kind of thing could recur if they reject support from the legal system,” the minister said, speaking to reporters at Government House.
He said welfare officials would step up inspections of bus stops in their efforts to tackle the problem of homeless people living in the city and provide them with assistance within the system.
A bus commuter had earlier posted a video on the TikTok platform on Sunday night showing homeless people sleeping in the bus stop shelter outside the mall about 11pm. The post attracted a lot of expressions of opinion and concern.
The comments beneath the video included, “Maybe not all were homeless, I once missed a bus and ended up sleeping at a bus stop too”, and “Bangkok needs to manage this problem. It could be dangerous for people travelling at night”.