Some 9.4 million people in Thailand, including state officials and subscribers to the Social Security Office (SSO), are entitled to a TBH 2,000 hand-out cheque, Thai Deputy PM Korbsak Sabhavasu said yesterday.

Thai Authorities were looking also whether 132,000 private school teachers were also entitled to receive the pay-out, he said.

The Cabinet of Thailand agreed yesterday that SSO subscribers who fail to pay their monthly contribution have the right to resume being a subscriber, on condition that they must give notice of their intention to resume being a member within 90 days.

Deputy spokesman of the Thai Prime Minister's Office Suparak Kuanha announced that the Cabinet had approved draft legislation proposed by the Labor Ministry for the resumption of SSO member rights to those who lost it from January 1, 1992 until the date this law comes into effect.

People must notify the SSO of their intention to regain membership within 90 days.

Their rights would resume a month after their request was approved and they would not have to pay contributions for the period their membership was expired.

Korbsak also said people who sought to become SSO subscribers again would also be entitled to receive a TBH 2,000 gift cheque.

A seminar was held yesterday for SSO executives and Labor officials in preparation for distribution of the Bt2,000 hand-outs to SSO subscribers who earn less than TBH 15,000 a month.

Thai SSO chief Pan Wannapinij urged those at the meeting to think how to submit the names of those entitled to the money, distributing the cheques and collecting related documents for the Office of the Auditor General.