Initial findings conducted by local authorities suggest that a boat that capsized early this month sent huge loads of refined sugar to the riverbed, contributing to the fouling of this section of the river. Their explanation is that naturally-occurring bacteria swarmed to the area where the water was infused with dissolved sugar, which provided nutrients resulting in explosive bacterial growth.

According to the authorities, these factors combined to cause the oxygen level in the river water to lower sharply, killing the farmed fish that were kept in pens and net enclosures along the river.

Fish farmers, however, pointed out that their fish began to die several days after the boat carrying the sugar went down. Authorities countered that it took about that long for the contamination to develop.

But fish farmers flatly rejected the official findings, saying they suspected that an MSG manufacturing plant operating upriver from their farms was to blame. Without providing hard evidence, they alleged that the factory had secretly discharged untreated waste directly into the river.

The perception that the authorities tend to be biased in favour of industrialists at the expense of farming communities in the provinces is widely held by locals.

Attempts have been made by local authorities to persuade fish farmers to accept their findings, which they said were based on scientific evidence. They even volunteered to withhold the final report on the incident until it was reviewed and verified by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's Pollution Control Department.

Some villagers took the matter into their own hands by digging up the river bank in front of the factory to expose what they described as a "secret" pipe through which liquid waste was discharged directly into the river. Authorities and factory officials insisted, however, that the pipe in question is used to take in water from the river and that the plant operates a closed waste treatment system, which means that no discharge is made in any form.

Then earlier this week, the Agriculture Ministry stepped in with a generous offer of Bt50 million baht to compensate those who had lost their fish in the incident. The ministry promised to offer compensation, averaging Bt30,000 per net and pen enclosure. Each farmer operates a few fish pens, which means each of them would be entitled to substantial compensation.

But the ministry backed down and now says it would offer an "emergency relief fund" of Bt20,000 to each operator of a fish farm. It now says that any compensation must come from the party that caused the pollution and that farmers must wait for the final report from the Pollution Control Department.

If the shipping company or any industrial plant is found to have caused the pollution, they must be made to pay for the damage. It is not fair for the government to use taxpayer's money to compensate the injured party while letting the polluter escape responsibility.

The problem is that there are many industrial plants along the river. How to exactly identify the wrongdoer is the biggest headache. But then there is a standing procedure to monitor all plants to make sure that they comply with all relevant environmental and industrial standards as well as applicable laws and regulations.

The various state agencies involved in environmental protection and industry regulators need to do their jobs in a more coordinated and professional manner. They must stick to the principle of polluter pays instead of offering them an easy way out as the Agriculture Ministry earlier offered to do. Polluters must be made to pay for the damage done to the environment and that of anyone else made to suffer from their actions.