Haze could return in North, as many cornfields still to be cleared

 Dapong said the haze in the North had dropped thanks to measures by various agencies to cut contributing factors, particularly clearing fields by burning.
However, up to 1.1 million rai of cornfields needs to be cleared, he said, so the ministry has urged provincial natural resources offices and district officials to talk with villagers. If necessary, they may have to arrange a timetable for fields to be burned gradually to minimise the environmental impacts, he said.
The minister said the haze might come back during the hot and dry month of April, so agencies would have to adapt their measures to tackle the problem, which may include having soldiers to help firefighters extinguishing bush fires by scaling down from helicopter to control fires in areas that are difficult to access.