Arduous journey: Monthon travelling from Sukhothai to Bangkok on his wheelchair. — The Nation/ANN
TV footage capturing a wheelchair-bound man’s arduous journey from Sukhothai to Bangkok prompted swift action from Social Development and Human Security Minister Varawut Silpa-archa.
Varawut ordered the ministry’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to investigate and urgently help the man.
On Sunday, TV stations broadcast depressing scenes of Monthon Phetsung, 48, pushing a lever on his modified wheelchair to move it little by little from Sukhothai to Bangkok – a distance of 824km.
Monthon said he aimed to prove his eligibility for the monthly disability allowance of 800 baht at the Comptroller General’s Department in Bangkok.
He recounted that he had fallen from a building while working on a construction site in Bangkok in 2014 and returned to Sukhothai to work as a handyman. However, after his income dropped recently, he checked the account that his handicapped allowance is paid into and found it hadn’t been credited since 2020.
He then inquired with district officials, who told him his allowance had been revoked and he needed to travel to Bangkok to reregister. He asked officials if they could help him travel to the capital, and when they said no, he decided to make the journey by wheelchair.
Yesterday, Monthon reached Ayutthaya, where the Social Development and Human Security Office gave him a place to rest and began investigating his case. — The Nation/ANN
