Viral photo: Power pole piercing through sewer in Sisaket

A snapshot showing a power pole piercing a drainage pipe beside Highway 226 in Sisaket’s Uthumphon Phisai district has taken social media by storm.

Within a day, the post, shared by the Watchdog.Act Facebook page, amassed a staggering 28,000 likes, accompanied by over 3,200 comments, and shared a whopping 2,400 times. Critics lambasted the contracted builders for their apparent oversight, failing to navigate around the pre-existing power pole.

Responding swiftly to the viral sensation, Uthumphon Phisai’s assistant district chief, Jirasak Sri-aram, personally visited the site for inspection. However, upon arrival, he discovered the contractor’s attempt to camouflage the blunder by covering the sewer’s top with soil, making the pole seem as though it rested above ground.

Undeterred, Jirasak investigated further, using his mobile phone to capture evidence from a nearby manhole. To his astonishment, the photos confirmed the inconvenient truth: the pole penetrated the sewage pipe’s core. Assurances from the Provincial Electricity Authority’s Sisaket office promised swift action, dispatching workers to relocate the pole without delay.

Further inquiries led to revelations from the Highway Department’s branch in Si Sa Ket, the project’s proprietor, reported The Nation.

The contractor, citing spatial constraints, claimed laying the drainage pipe without circumventing the pole was their only recourse. They vowed to seek alternative solutions if drainage efficiency suffered as a consequence.

In related news, the Machanu Roundabout, where Jomtien Second Road meets the path to Jomtien Beach in Pattaya, turned into a perilous zone, prompting residents to demand swift intervention. The pedestrian crossing signs, seemingly innocuous, are placed at a precarious height of only 160 centimetres.

Tourists, oblivious to the looming hazard, find themselves colliding with these signs, resulting in a string of head injuries. Some unfortunate ones have faced hospitalisation, their wounds demanding stitches.

In other news, Pattaya recently saw over 200 business owners on Jomtien Beach Road petitioning the deputy mayor to revoke a one-way traffic rule that had been put into place. This rule, implemented on March 1, pertains to a stretch of Jomtien Beach Road from Dongtan Curve to the Chaiyapruek Intersection.