BMA denies reprieve for Pak Klong Talad flower vendors

Group leader Pirom Chitakorn said other markets proposed as alternatives would not attract enough customers and could not host all of the vendors, which justified another three to six-month postponement in closing the market.
Pirom urged the city and government officials to recognise the importance of the market as a hub for retailing flowers supplied by farmers from across the country.
However, after speaking yesterday afternoon with Yuttapan Meechai, assistant secretary to the BMA governor, and BMA adviser Natthanan Kalayasiri, Pirom said vendors must obey the law and quit the market as the city reclaims the area for public use as a footpath.
Phra Nakhon district office director Somchai Traipittayakul told reporters that the meeting went well and vendors understood the city’s policy and the necessity to regulate the area, which will be guarded by security officials 24 hours a day for the next two months.
Commenting on last Friday night’s blockage of a road by 300 vendors near the Memorial Bridge, BMA chief adviser Wanlop Suwandee said the city had tried to talk with vendors to move them to alternative marketplaces and had already extended a six-month postponement. However, about 50 vendors still operate businesses in the area.

‘Respect the law’
“There will be no more negotiations for a time extension because everyone must respect the law,” he said.
Deputy clerk Jakkapan Phewngam said vendors who operated during the day had stopped doing business at the market since April 1, while the deadline for night vendors was June 30.
“We negotiated 10 times before so they must respect the law because the time is up,” he said, adding that the city effort to regulate footpaths had already resolved 46 problems in 22 districts without issue, so Pak Klong Talad vendors had to abide by the law as other business owners have done.