Beach umbrella vendors appeal to Governor for help
Agroup of people who previously worked as beach bed umbrella vendors at Karon have appealed to the Phuket Governor for help in being allowed to return to the sands.
The group, calling themselves the ‘Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group’, led by Phusita Massuwan, submitted their formal appeal for help to Governor Sophon Suwannarat at Provincial Hall last Friday (Nov 10).
Currently, only one group of vendors have been allowed to operate in the “10% zone”, Ms Phusita said, causing problems for those no longer allowed to work on the beach.
The “10% zone” refers to the area where beach vendors may provide services for beachgoers, which by provincial policy is not allowed to exceed 10% of the total beach area.
The formal request listed nine issues, first and foremost that there was a need to form a ‘Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group’.
“This is because local leaders and the original umbrella operator group did not properly inform villagers in Karon Subdistrict about the establishment of beach bed umbrella groups in public areas,” the request said.
The Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group wanted to work as a beach bed umbrella operators by having proper permission, the request added.
“At present, the Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group has suffered from the duties of village headmen, administrative divisions and municipal officials who seized umbrellas and beach chairs and issued fine notices,” the request noted.
Further, because local leaders did not allow the installation of umbrellas and beach chairs, the members of the group now had no income, the request noted.
“At present, the old group of beach bed umbrella operators do not set up the beach bed umbrellas themselves. They have hired foreigners to do it instead,” it added.
“Due to the problems mentioned above, the Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group would like to ask for help from the Governor of Phuket Province to urgently solve the problems of the villagers so that the villagers can continue to have income-generating jobs to support their families,” the request appealed.
“The Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group had never received consideration from local leaders, despite their requests being valid. They were also not given the opportunity to be informed of the agenda [of the meeting where current beach operators were approved], which in the past was only acknowledged by the brothers and sisters of the local leaders, thus becoming the only group allowed,” the group alleged.
The move allowed only certain people to operate as beach bed umbrella operators at Karon, despite the members of the ‘Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group’ being local people who had made a living on the beach “for generations”, the request continued..
“Local leaders have never provided assistance to the Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group in terms of providing information, receiving requests for permission to operate or accepting complaints from the local residents. It usually takes a long time to process, but without a point of contact for enquiries, it just disappears. The Multi-Coloured Umbrella Group hopes to receive kindness, assistance, and sympathy from the Governor of Phuket Province,” the request concluded.
Governor Sophon formally received the request and said he would assign relevant agencies “to investigate the facts and ensure fairness to all parties”.