Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday denied his Cabinet had kowtowed to the Council for National Security (CNS) for approval of the Bt555 million needed for a special operational force to quell possible unrest.

Surayud said the Cabinet approved the fund because the CNS said it wanted to have the forces and equipment ready for possible unrest next year and believed the amount of funds to maintain the 13,625-strong force for 12 months was not considered expensive.

The force, under the Council for National Security's Special Operations Centre has been recruited from the armed forces and police and is already stationed at undisclosed locations.

Surayud said the CNS did not elaborate on whether the special operations centre was to deal with the activities by "undercurrents", the term used to describe pro-Thaksin agitators.

CNS chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin defended the decision to establish the centre saying that using Bt555 million for the security of the country is very little judging from the number of personnel used and the time in which they will have to work.

He said the money was to mainly pay for the force who have to perform extra duties in addition to their routine activities. They have to be on standby 24 hours a day.

"We gave a lot of thought about seeking this amount of money because we have never done this before. It's not much considering the security mission that the force has to perform," he said.

CNS spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said most of the Bt555 million will be used for food - at Bt120 per day per man. The operation will last 305 days in total. Only Bt1 million is to be used for equipment and vehicles in monitoring the situation. The CNS has been attracting more criticism for using the fund after it was attacked for supplementing its salaries and placing military men in major state enterprises.

Meanwhile, a Thai Rak Thai Party caretaker executive board member Weera Musikapong said the CNS should review its decision to deploy forces across the country because it was changing the country into a military state.

He said the junta was trying to use all military mechanisms to take control of the country and that military officials have been deployed at all important locations.

"This is a dangerous sign that the junta is going to make the country a military state. The Thai Rak Thai Party is concerned for the Thai people," he said.

Weera said the military had established the centre because it had run into problems after seizing power three months ago.

"Running the country is not easy. Problems are complex," he said, adding the junta also feared deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra would return and compound their problems.