The Labour Ministry threatened to punish employers who refused to allow workers a five-day Songkran break after a resolution by the Cabinet to extend the holiday.

The permanent secretary for the PM's Office sought a fifth day off on Tuesday April 17 to give workers a better chance to visit families in their hometowns.

Labour Protection and Welfare Department chief Padungsak Thephasdin na Ayutthaya said he had issued an announcement asking for cooperation from some 350,000 businesses to let their workers celebrate Songkran from April 13 until 17, according to the Cabinet resolution yesterday.

He said if there were complaints to the department about business operators refusing to allow workers the extra day, the department would take action against the employer under the Labour Protection Act.

The Thai New Year falls on April 13 to 15 every year, and according to a Cabinet resolution in May 2001, if the holiday falls on the weekend, the next weekday can be made a holiday in lieu.

An informed source yesterday revealed that the Interior Ministry was planning to transfer many provincial governors in the Northeast after Songkran.

It said the governors of Buri Ram, Surin and Si Sa Ket were likely to be affected in the upcoming reshuffles because they failed to respond to government policies and policies of the Council for National Security.

At 3.30 pm yesterday, a group of Buri Ram activists called on the Interior Ministry's permanent secretary Pongphayom Wasapooti to appoint a new governor for Buri Ram in place of the incumbent Kongkiat Akaraprasertkul.

 "The governor has sided with people supporting the ousted regime," Srimuang Wattana-cheep, one if the activists, said.