More firms probed over Riau fires<\/p>\n
Puji Santoso and PC Naomy, Pekanbaru\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is investigating more plantation companies accused
\nof massive slash-and-burn land-clearing, which has blanketed
\nparts of Southeast Asia with noxious haze.<\/p>\n
Satellite monitoring detected at least 28 plantation companies
\nand industrial timber estates (HTI) that have allegedly started
\nwildfires across Riau province on Sumatra, which lies just to the
\nwest of Malaysia and Singapore, the Riau forestry office deputy
\nhead Sudirno said on Friday.<\/p>\n
He said many hotspots were discovered in their concession
\nareas by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
\nAdministration (NOAA) satellite.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Wednesday, the Riau administration decided to sue
\n10 plantation firms for Rp 2 trillion (US$222.2 million) over the
\nblazes and the resulting haze crisis. Local officials, however,
\ndeclined to name them.<\/p>\n
Sudirno and Riau forestry office head of forest protection
\ndivision Sadrizal Labay could not say whether there were 18 new
\nones for a total of 28 or there were 28 new ones for a total of
\n38 firms being investigated.<\/p>\n
Sadrizal said his office dispatched a team to the field to
\nverify what was seen on the satellite imagery.<\/p>\n
Thick haze from forest fires and bush fires have covered parts
\nof Sumatra and Kalimantan this week, delaying a number of flights
\nto and from Riau.<\/p>\n
Smoke has also drifted to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia,
\nshrouding several cities in an unhealthy haze.<\/p>\n
However on Friday, visibility and air conditions in the Riau
\ncapital of Pekanabru seemed to improve somewhat after a breeze
\nblew some of it away from Riau at least.<\/p>\n
Officials and environmentalists have warned that the haze
\nwould continue to cover a number of cities in Sumatra until heavy
\nrains come in October or the torching of the forests is stopped
\nby other means.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, the Ministry of Forestry claimed there were a
\ntotal of more than 6,000 hotspots across Indonesia with 2,514 of
\nthem detected in the concession areas of industrial timber
\nplantations.<\/p>\n
Masyhud, the ministry's head of data analysis, said on Friday
\nthat more than half of those hotspots were detected in Riau
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
And 1,638 of those were identified on plantation areas and
\nindustrial timber estates, he added.<\/p>\n
\"The data should be used by local authorities to alert them
\nabout potential fires. They can't merely depend on us. They
\nshould be more active, especially since the implementation of
\nregional autonomy,\" Masyhud said.<\/p>\n
Environmentalists blamed the fires and haze on weak law
\nenforcement and a lack of coordination among the central and
\nlocal authorities in combating the annual forest fires in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
\"Everyone is pointing the finger elsewhere and shifting the
\nblame,\" said Indro Sugianto, the executive director of Indonesian
\nCenter for Environmental Law (ICEL).<\/p>\n
He dismissed the government's claims that most of the fires
\nwere being set by small farmers because between them they only
\nhad a small amount of land.<\/p>\n
Masyhud said the Ministry of Forestry has sent a team of 200
\npersonnel from the forest fire fighting brigade to Riau to help
\nput out the blazes there.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Riau health office head Syaiful Bahri Rab said on
\nFriday at least 267 residents had suffered respiratory problems
\ndue to the haze.<\/p>\n
The figure was based on data of patients who were treated at
\n15 community health centers and hospitals in Pekanbaru, he added.<\/p>",
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