At a meeting with Governor Tri Augkaradacha on Thursday (August 30) to discuss arrangements for this year’s festival, Prasert Fakthongphol, chairman of Phuket Chinese Shrines Association said that vegetable prices always rise as the festival approaches.
This year the burden of the extra cost had reached a point, where the vegetarian food sellers could no longer manage on their own, hence the request for the subsidy, he said.
Gov Tri listened to their complaint and ordered relevant officials to look into the situation. He said that support was unlikely this year, because the festival is just six weeks from now and there is no budget set aside for this. He suggested that, next time, they make such requests much earlier.
Police at the meeting brought up two safety concerns: the number of flags along the roadside, which cuts visibility for traffic and causes accidents, and the uncontrolled use of firecrackers – including children throwing fireworks at police officers.
The governor agreed that these should be controlled and also asked the police to make extra efforts to control pickpockets.