At border, gov’t bill mounts
The financial burden inflicted by hundreds of thousands of returning Cambodian migrant workers has already reached $5 million in government-mobilised emergency services alone, according to official estimates. In less than two weeks, nearly 200,000 mostly undocumented Cambodian migrants have spilled through the Thai-Cambodia border, fleeing what they fear is a military-led crackdown on Thailand’s irregular labour force. The government has already spent roughly $5 million providing the returned workers food, water, medical supplies and free transportation back to their home provinces, Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan said during a visit yesterday to the Poipet international checkpoint, which has seen the vast majority of the exodus. …
May Titthara and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/border-gov%E2%80%99t-bill-mounts
