Risk pay hiked for PWA staff in far South as separatist violence flares
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a hike in the risk allowance for Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) staff in the restive deep South, where insurgency-related violence is flaring.
Ministers green-lighted the PWA’s proposal to raise the monthly risk allowance in the four southernmost provinces from Bt5,000 to Bt7,000. The provinces covered are Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat plus four districts of Songkhla.
The increase will take effect immediately, according to government spokeswoman Trisulee Trisaranakul.
The new rate applies to 211 PWA employees working in 10 branches in areas deemed at risk of attacks by Malay Muslim insurgents.
The hike in risk allowance will cost the PWA Bt5.09 million, increasing its budget expenses from Bt12.72 million to Bt17.81 million.
The PWA said the increase would not affect its financial status or revenue for government coffers.
It added that both PWA office staff and maintenance workers who repair water pipes and other facilities were at risk from insurgency-related violence. The PWA said the hike was in line with other government agencies that have raised their risk allowance for deep South staff, including the Bank for Agricultural and Agricultural Cooperatives, and the Government Housing Bank.
The move comes two weeks after at least 13 small explosions rocked the town of Yala on January 28.
A decades-old separatist insurgency in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has claimed the lives of more than 7,300 people since 2004, according to the Deep South Watch group which monitors the violence.