Government relief payment not effective, causes a man to die

Last updated on May 7th, 2021 at 09:08 am

A man in Udon Thani province has committed suicide by hanging himself after his application for the government’s Bt5,000 relief payment was rejected. Leaving him with no money to support his 15 year-old daughter.

The body of Supasit Chaokla, 42, was found hanging at 1.30pm on Thursday. Authorities believe he committed suicide two days earlier. His mother, Jiamsri Chakla, 62, said that after getting divorced, Supasit had raised his 15-year-old daughter alone. However, his income began to shrink last month after the emergency decree was announced. He owned a small eatery with daily running costs of Bt500-Bt600. He became stressed when revenue fell to Bt200-Bt300 as people stayed at home during the lockdown.

That meant he could no longer afford the Bt10,000 he needed to keep his daughter in school once the term restarted. He hoped that the Bt5,000 payments would help fill the hole in his finances, but became suicidal when his application was rejected. His mother said that she would now take care of her orphaned granddaughter. Meanwhile, academics are urging the government to review virus lockdown measures. Furthermore make its financial relief scheme as more people are trying to commit suicide. Academics Atthajak Sattayanurak of Chiang Mai University’s Humanities Faculty; Somchai Preechasilpakul, an associate professor of constitutional law at Chiang Mai University; and Prapas Pintobtaeng, lecturer of political science at Chulalongkorn University. They are members of a research team studying suicide and attempted suicide cases, during the lockdown. According to its study, 38 suicide cases were attributed to the lockdown; business closures; job losses and furloughs; noting 28 resulted in deaths. It concluded that the government’s measures were lopsided because they do not alleviate the social and also economic impacts. It concluded that the government’s measures were lopsided because they do not alleviate the social and economic impacts.