"Ice Rakchanok" led the Budget Oversight Committee on a tour of Chiang Mai's budgets, bringing together MPs, provincial councillors, and municipal councilors from the Orange Party to jointly scrutinize the budgets of Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organization and Chiang Mai City Municipality.
On 29 August 2026, the Budget Management and Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives organized the second "Budget Oversight On Tour" event in Chiang Mai. Ms. Rakchanok Srinok, a party-list MP from the People’s Party and chair of the Budget Oversight Committee, led six Chiang Mai district MPs, provincial councillors, and municipal councillors to examine the function budgets allocated by various ministries to Chiang Mai, as well as the budgets of Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organization, Chiang Mai City Municipality, and other municipalities. Over 250 interested citizens participated in the event held at Chiang Mai Hill Hotel in Mueang Chiang Mai district.
Ms. Rakchanok said her goal as chair of the Budget Oversight Committee is to increase public participation in budgeting and to enable ordinary citizens to understand basic budgets. This way, when hearing news or events locally, people can identify which projects or budget items are involved.
For Chiang Mai this year, the function budgets allocated by ministries total about 300 million baht, plus another 300 million baht in other subsidies, totaling 600 million baht. This is government funding intended to address haze and dust issues. By comparison, the TH-AI Passport project, which provides AI devices to 5 million people, received 1.6 billion baht. Reviewing Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organization’s budget details for keywords "forest fire" and "PM 2.5" revealed zero baht allocated to these issues in the regular budget this year.
Regarding Chiang Mai City Municipality, searching for "forest fire" and "PM 2.5" budgets shows only 170,000 baht allocated. Other notable budgets include those for cultural or health tourism promotion, coffee business promotion, and ethnic group support. However, 80-90% of these budgets actually go towards road repairs and bridge maintenance. Simply put, the budget use does not align with the stated project purposes.
Ms. Rakchanok added that another issue of local interest is the annual flower festival organized by the Provincial Administrative Organization, which spends over 100 million baht yearly. It is noteworthy that the same private companies manage the event each year. Comparing this high flower festival budget with the negligible funding for forest fire and PM 2.5 problem-solving projects prompts citizens to closely examine the budget’s details and decide whether they agree or disagree with the Provincial Administrative Organization’s budget allocations, as well as to offer suggestions for future budgeting.
Additionally, data compiled by People’s Party provincial councillors shows that in 2025-2026 there were about 70 specific projects under 500,000 baht each where contractors could be directly selected. In the 2027 budget, projects under 500,000 baht increased to over 200. It is notable that these projects allow direct contractor selection. Therefore, public participation in budget oversight and joint scrutiny is encouraged. When citizens become aware of their tax contributions and their right to demand accountable budget allocation addressing real-life issues, and when they raise their voices collectively, political leaders will be compelled to listen and allocate budgets that better solve citizens’ problems.