Govt denies Interior Ministry flood estimate error claim

Thairath•Politics•5d ago

Reader Briefing

The government deputy spokesperson rejected claims that the Ministry of Interior underestimated flood damages by four times, urging critics to provide clear calculation data.

•Lalida Pernwitwattana denied claims that the Ministry of Interior underestimated flood damages by 4 times.
•The government is open to increasing the budget if the current allocation is insufficient.
•The Deputy Spokesperson challenged the source of the 12,000 million baht additional budget request.

Overview

•Lalida Pernwitwattana stated that the number of requests for aid, the number of households passing criteria, and actual damage values are different types of data and cannot be compared directly.
•Lalida Pernwitwattana explained that aid based on Cabinet resolutions is intended for initial relief, not for full compensation of all losses.
•The Ministry of Interior reported preliminary data on affected persons to the Cabinet on September 29, 2026.
•Lalida Pernwitwattana noted that delays in aid payments may be caused by factors such as PromptPay data, duplicate names in households, and missing rental evidence.
•Approximately 5,215 million baht has been transferred from a budget framework of around 5,290 million baht.
•Lalida Pernwitwattana called for the disclosure of calculations regarding the proposed 12,000 million baht additional budget.
•The government will assess the need for additional budget to ensure aid for eligible citizens is not interrupted.

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Source: Thairath (Original)

Key Quotes

Lalida Pernwitwattana

"The fact that more people submitted requests later does not mean that the Ministry of Interior underestimated all damages."

การที่มีประชาชนยื่นคำร้องเพิ่มขึ้นภายหลัง ไม่ได้หมายความว่ากระทรวงมหาดไทยประเมินความเสียหายผิดทั้งหมดค่ะ

Lalida Pernwitwattana

"The government does not deny that it must accelerate the budget increase if funds are insufficient, and is not using numerical discrepancies as an excuse to make people wait."

รัฐบาลไม่ได้ปฏิเสธว่าต้องเร่งเพิ่มงบประมาณหากวงเงินไม่เพียงพอ และไม่ได้ใช้ประเด็นความคลาดเคลื่อนของตัวเลขมาเป็นข้ออ้างให้ประชาชนรอค่ะ

Key Entities

Person

Lalida Pernwitwattana(ลลิดา เพริศวิวัฒนา)

Deputy Spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office.

Organization

Ministry of Interior(กระทรวงมหาดไทย)ℹ️

The ministry accused of underestimating flood damage assessments.

Office of the Prime Minister(สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี)

The office to which the Deputy Spokesperson is attached.

Cabinet(คณะรัฐมนตรี)

The body that received flood reports and established aid criteria.

Government(รัฐบาล)ℹ️

The administrative body responsible for flood relief and budget allocation.