Yanee Saensrichan said her department had so far distributed 10.9 million welfare cards for use by 11.4 million registered people. During the four months in question the card holders spent Bt11.822 billion at grocery shops carrying blue flags approved by the Commerce Ministry, Bt14.3 million at cooking gas shops, Bt65.3 million on train fares and Bt38.2 million on buses. The cards can only be used at shops or services that have EDC (electronic data capture) readers. So far, 20.272 EDC card readers have been installed - 18,789 at blue flag grocery stores, 828 at cooking gas shops, 534 at railway stations and 121 at bus terminals. Yanee said the department was planning for the installation of 20,000 more EDC card readers - 20,000 at blue flag shops and 10,000 at village revolving funds offices.

Source: The Nation Bangkok February 12, 2018 02:37 UTC