Police begin quizzing Cimahi dump management officials<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
The Cimahi Police have started questioning officials in charge of
\nthe Leuwigajah dump in south Cimahi, where mountains of garbage
\ncollapsed on Monday killing 67 people.<\/p>\n
A total of 89 others are still missing.<\/p>\n
Heavy rain at the disaster scene made things even more
\ndifficult for rescue teams on Thursday, with the chief of the
\nCimahi district military command, Lt. Col. Achmad Syaefudin,
\nsaying that Monday was the deadline for the winding up of the
\nrescue work.<\/p>\n
Cimahi Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Irwanto said his officers
\nhad started questioning the officials after the West Java
\nenvironment agency, with assistance from the Office of the State
\nMinister for the Environment, kicked off a separate investigation
\ninto the cause of the disaster and the effects of pollution from
\nthe dump on those living in surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
Previously, West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Edi Darnadi said
\nthe police would not be able to investigate the case until they
\nhad received a complaint from one or more of the victims.<\/p>\n
\"We're questioning the management of the dump, and officials from
\nthe sanitation offices in Cimahi municipality and Bandung
\nregency, as well as the Bandung municipal sanitation firm, PD
\nKebersihan, as these three bodies were responsible for managing
\nthe dumping at the site,\" Irwanto told The Jakarta Post in Cimahi
\non Thursday.<\/p>\n
Apart from the officials from the sanitation offices, the
\npolice had also questioned four Cilimus residents as witnesses in
\nthe case.<\/p>\n
The head of the Cimahi police detectives, Adj. Comr. Slamet
\nUliandi, said the police, assisted by investigators from the
\nprovincial environment office and the environment ministry, not
\nonly wanted to find out whether there had been unlawful taking of
\nlife as defined by article 359 of the Criminal Code, which
\ncarries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, but also
\nwhether there had been any violations of the Environment
\nProtection Law (No. 23 of 1997).<\/p>\n
Slamet said the involvement of environmental investigators was
\npermitted under article 40 of the Environment Protection Law,
\nwhich says that apart from the police, authorized officers from
\nthe environment office can act as investigators in such cases.<\/p>\n
He said that local people had long been complaining about air
\npollution and ground contamination emanating from the dump.<\/p>\n
\"So, we'll investigate this, along with the causes of the
\ndisaster ... as well as finding out about the reported explosion
\nof methane gas that is believed to have triggered the garbage
\nslide,\" Slamet said.<\/p>\n
The police would also scrutinize the dump's permits and
\nenvironmental impact analysis (EIA), while the officers from the
\nenvironment office would take pollution readings in the areas
\nsurrounding the dump.<\/p>\n
The first witness, the head of the sanitation unit in Cimahi
\nmunicipality, Sutisna Sumantri, said he did not know whether the
\ndump had the necessary permits or an EIA, and continued to insist
\nthat the dump had only been in operation since 2004.<\/p>\n
He said that he was not solely responsible for running the
\ndump as it also received garbage from Bandung municipality and
\nBandung regency.<\/p>\n
PD Kebersihan director Awan Gumelar, who was questioned by
\npolice on Thursday, also said he knew nothing about the dump's
\npermits or EIA.<\/p>\n
\"I just continued to use the existing system. I don't know
\nanything about permits or the EIA,\" said Awan.<\/p>\n
When asked about surface dumping at the dump, which was in
\nviolation of the requirement to employ the sanitary landfill
\nsystem, he once again pleaded ignorance. He also said he had no
\nknowledge of what preventative measures had been taken, if any,
\nto reduce pollution from the dump.<\/p>\n
\"That's only theory (the landfill system) and it's hard to put
\ninto practice. The garbage is dumped. The disaster happened, and
\nthat's it. We will take it as a lesson to run the dump much
\nbetter in the future. I'm not worried about (the police)
\nquestioning. I'm much more worried about the garbage piling up on
\nthe city's streets,\" he said defiantly.<\/p>\n
Slamet said the police would not make a statement on the
\noutcome of the investigation to date, saying it could take up to
\ntwo weeks before a final decision was made on further action in
\nthe case.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-begin-quizzing-cimahi-dump-management-officials-1447893297",
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